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Apple Howling

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Jan 08 2008

The ancient custom of apple howling, or ‘wassailing’ was performed in Bolney on Saturday evening. Popular throughout Southern England where fruit trees are grown, the purpose is to drive the ‘evil’ spirits out while the ‘good’ spirits are encouraged to bear huge amounts of fruit, in this instance for the following year’s cider. After a torchlight procession to one of the oldest trees in the orchard, the Master of Ceremony leads the event which includes kids beating the trunk of the tree with sticks, singing songs, making a lot of noise, dancing by the Chanctonbury Ring Morris Men, and the […]

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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I’ll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or ‘Cri du Cochon’. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I’ve travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There’s nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you’ll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. ‘A Brit Different’ is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There’s always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell!

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