A NEW year is with us – so a-wassailing we go!

Details of the fourth annual Weylands Wassail, in Frome, have been revealed – with the gathering set to take place on Sunday, February 8, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

The event, in the community orchard, promises family-friendly craft activities, making willow crowns and wassail sticks, alongside hot mulled cider and apple juice to ward off the cold.

Ceremonies will start at 2.30pm, led by performers Annabelle Macfadyen and Simon Blakeman, with everyone invited to join them in making noise to ‘wake the orchard’ and ‘toast the trees’.

The Frome Street Bandits will round off the day with a musical performance until 3.30pm.

Entrance to the wassail is free, although donations to the community groups providing activities are welcome.

Refreshments are on sale throughout the event; cider and toast for the trees as part of the wassail ceremony are provided.

Attendees are encouraged to bring pots, pans and spoons to bang during the wassail ceremony.

Annabelle said: “The Wassail is a lovely midwinter community event where children and adults participate in an ancient tradition of wassailing the apple trees in the orchard.

“We need to wake the trees from their winter sleep by making a lot of noise with pots and pans and then make offerings of toast and cider to ensure a good harvest.

“Once the trees are blessed in this way, we celebrate them in song with a cup of mulled cider or apple juice in hand.”

Charly Le Marchant, who produces the Wood for the Trees film series and brought the wassail to Weylands with Annabelle, added: “The tradition of the Wassail is to come out in midwinter, sometime after Christmas and bless the spirits of the fruit trees with music, cider and toast and encourage a fruitful harvest that year.

“But also it is an excuse to give everyone a chance to get out of their homes in the miserable depths of winter and remind us of the friends and the community around us.”

The tree planting at Weylands was designed and organised by Charly and Pavla of Hejgro and planted with help from FROGs and Shared Earth and FTC and community volunteers.

Mayor of Frome Anita Collier said: “The wassail has become one of Frome’s favourite community events – despite the chilly time of year, the mood is far from it.

“Come and enjoy the ‘village green’ from 1.30pm and then help ensure a bountiful harvest with the wassail ceremony.

“Many thanks to Charly, Annabelle, Simon and everyone who works so hard to make it such a fantastic day.”

READ MORE: Frome news from your Somerset Leveller