The Sidwell Street wassail

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.

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.

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.