With the New Year approaching, the Midsomer Norton Society has announced the date of the 2019 Wassail, which will take place on Saturday, 19th January, meeting at 11.30 a.m. for a 12 noon start at the Town Hall.

For those who are new to Wassailing, proceedings will commence with a short introduction to this centuries-old tradition. Then the Wassail King and Queen will be crowned by the Town Mayor, and this year, nominations for the Wassail Royalty are being opened up to people of all ages.

The gathering will then be led by musicians to apple trees planted in memory of Town notables, David Strawbridge, David Fisher, Ted Hallam and Norman Voake.

When the Wassailers arrive at each location, the traditional ceremonies will be performed using the town’s Wassail Cups to ‘wake up’ the apple trees.

This year, the ceremony will be joined by the Cam Valley Morris Men, bringing to the event a really important traditional Wassail element which was missing last year.

The Wassailing will conclude with the company being invited to tuck into scrumptious apple cake.

“It’s great to see Wassailing becoming a regular part of the town’s calendar – bringing the community together as it does, to look ahead at the very beginning of the year, and to anticipate the waking up of nature,” said Paul Myers, Mayor of Midsomer Norton.

The event is being run by the Midsomer Norton Society and is open to everyone. There is no charge, but there will be a collection of donations to help cover costs.