ON OUR RADAR

The Sidwell Street wassail

An evening wassail with music, singing and free hot soup.

Leigh Curtis

St Sidwell’s Community Centre and Wren Music are co-hosting an evening wassail with music, singing and free hot soup on Friday 19 January.

Orchard wassailing has been practised in cider-producing counties, including Devon, for many centuries. The first recorded mention is from 1585 in Kent.

The winter ceremony is believed to promote a good apple crop the following spring. The tradition has also been revived locally in Stoke Gabriel and Sandford.

The Sidwell Street wassail Friday 19 January 2024 St Sidwells Community Centre

Wren Music is a charity based in Okehampton. Founded in 1983 it runs events, workshops and concerts enabling communities to participate in folk and traditional music.

St Sidwell’s Community Centre, which opened in 2001, is an independent, secular charity which offers a range of activities, events and services for the local community.

It runs a community café, a bakery and cookery school and free English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes.

The centre also manages a large community garden, where events are held and organic fruit and vegetables are grown for use in the café, offers meeting rooms for hire to local groups and acts as a local heritage hub for Exeter city centre’s eastern quarter.

There are volunteering and work experience opportunities across all areas of the centre’s work.

Subscribe to The Exeter Digest - Exeter Observer's essential free email newsletter

Your personal information will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy

The Sidwell Street wassail gathers from 5pm on Friday 19 January 2024 at St Sidwell’s Community Centre.

There will a chance to learn wassailing songs from 5.30pm before the wassail itself at 6pm in the community garden.

After the wassail there will be free hot soup and music inside the centre until 8.30pm.

Booking is not required but organisers ask that prospective attendees pre-book if possible to ensure there’s enough soup for all.


Democracy doesn't work when people don't know who is deciding what on whose behalf and what the costs and consequences of those decisions will be.

Exeter Observer is proving that reader-funded media can deliver the independent public interest journalism our local democracy needs.

Upgrade to a paid Exeter Observer subscription to support our work and get access to exclusive premium content and more.

More stories
Exeter Energy heat plant indicative render north elevation

Exeter City Council disregards national planning policy and Environment Agency criticism to approve Riverside Valley Park flood zone heat plant plans

Five gas boilers to provide 80% of “low-to-zero carbon” Grace Road Fields plant generation capacity for distribution to institutional consumers through privately-run 13-mile underground network expected to take ten years to complete.

University of Exeter West Park redevelopment demolition block plan

West Park redevelopment demolitions to proceed to enable intrusive unexploded ordnance surveys before works can begin

Five year-old University of Exeter plans to provide 2,000 new student bedspaces in blocks up to nine storeys tall by demolishing up to 30 buildings on fifteen acre Streatham campus site about to take seismic step towards delivery.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services logo

HMICFRS identifies sufficient Devon & Cornwall Police improvements to return force to routine monitoring

Inspectorate decision follows nearly three years of enhanced monitoring after force found inadequate in three of nine areas and requiring improvement in two more, but says “still work to do” in crime recording standards and investigations management.

Devon & Cornwall Police deputy chief constable Jim Colwell, previous chief constable Will Kerr and interim chief constable James Vaughan

Devon & Cornwall Police deputy chief constable Jim Colwell receives 18-month misconduct warning

Outcome of Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation delivered day before retirement of suspended chief constable Will Kerr announced, with Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez unwilling to say whether “golden handshake” agreed.

Newtown active travel scheme map

Newtown active travel scheme approved after four years of public consultations

Joint Devon County Council and Exeter City Council project includes road closure, car parking changes and contraflow Clifton Hill cycle lane.