THERE will be wassailing at Kempley in Gloucestershire, including a torchlit procession and the serving of hot, mulled cider.

Wassailing is a traditional ritual to bless apple orchards at the turn of a New Year, but the origins of the spectacle and celebration are somewhat lost in time.

However, wassailing is certainly recorded as happening in the south of England, in Elizabethan times, more than 400 years ago.

Typically, wassailing involves taking a wassail bowl, filled with cider, into an orchard at night.

The ceremony will be torchlit and often drums are beaten, or guns are fired into the air, to frighten away any evil spirits.

Sometimes food, such as slices of toast are offered to the tree roots or branches, before the cider is poured out at the base of a tree.

The aim is to bless the tree so that a good crop of apples will be produced in the autumn.

On occasions, the tree that most looks like a man is chosen as a focus for the ceremony, and this is called, suitably enough, "The Apple Tree Man".

The wassailing at Kempley will take place on Saturday, January 28, from 6.45pm, and the mustering point will be the Old Post Office in the village.

After the wassailing, there will be supper in the village hall. All proceeds will be in aid of the village hall.

Tickets and further details from, kempleyevents@gmail.com