Bramley Apple Festival 2018
20th October 2018
The Master was honoured to be invited to open the 25th Bramley Apple Festival on Saturday 20th October 2018.
The invitation came from the Festival Committee Chairman, Liveryman Roger Merryweather - great grandson of the nurseryman (Henry Merryweather) who, from a chance seedling growing in the garden of a cottage owned by Mr Matthew Bramley in 1856, cultivated every single Bramley apple that we know today.
The Festival is now a very large affair with stalls in the Minster, children’s activities in the Library, cooking competitions and a competition for the “best dressed shop window” There is even a song about the Bramley, performed on this occasion by Oliver Wheeldon in the Minster.
Also present were two representatives of the Japanese Bramley Apple Fan Club of Japan, Kimi Mizuno, and a Japanese chef and author Sakuko Kitano.
American Children’s Author Susan Allen was there as well and she read extracts from her book “Mary Ann and the Apple Tree” which is based on Mary Ann Brailsford and the seed that she planted that was to become the first Bramley Apple seedling!
The Master even tried his hand at making an apple crumble, one of the events laid on for children. All the ingredients were provided so all he had to do was chop the apple (Bramley, of course) and assemble the other ingredients in an aluminium tray, take it home and bake it! A great way to involve youngsters in learning how to cook from scratch.
At the end of the day the Master awarded prizes to the winners of some of the cooking classes and, finally, crowned the Festival King, Queen, Prince and Princess, winners of fancy dress competitions held in the local schools.All in all, an excellent day and it was good for the Livery to be seen in the Shires!