We were blessed with glorious sunshine and the community came out to celebrate once again!  They had a chance to enjoy an extensive display of mainly local apples, and to learn lots about their cultivation from James Ellson of Northern Fruit Group – It was wonderful to see so many people come to listen and learn.

Visitors to the event also tasted and compared different varieties, and enjoyed a magnificent range of apple baking.  There was some very popular Apple Crafting provided by Kate from Shining Cliff Hostel (Shining Cliff Centre C.I.C – The Hostel & Events in the Woods (shiningcliffhostel.co.uk).  We also had Apple Games, Apple Juicing provided by Paul and Jane (a tastier juice we challenge you to find), Two Shires Cider that met your cidery needs, and EarthedUp! provided plants for sale and information about composting.

Longest Apple Peel Competition
A range of games were also enjoyed, including a longest apple peel competition.  Congratulations to Kaitlyn whose peel was the longest of over 50 entries!  We hope you enjoy your book – Climate Change and How We’ll fix it, by local author Alice Harman (who kindly entertained and inspired a table of kids throughout the day with drawings of their favourite fruity characters and more).

Belper’s Favourite Apple
The people of Belper also voted for their favourite apple and we are delighted to share the results with you. Barnack Orange came first with 24% of people choosing it as their favourite. Royal Gala (from the local supermarket) came joint last with a cooking apple, Bramley’s seedling.

Many people made Apple Day the success it was, but we’d like to give a special shout out to all those that gave their time and energy to enable us to host the event.  We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you: David, Chris, Rosalind, Sue, Della, Rose, Sarah, Laura, Ed, Kerry, Edward, Caroline, Nigel, Kate, and a second thank you to Rosalind for donating apples from her Orchard, and to Dale at Clumber Park who gave us the opportunity to spend a delightful day picking at their trees for the event.  And, of course, Belper Community Hall – Thank you for having us at your wonderful venue.

And lastly, a BIG thank you to Gez Kinsella of Derbyshire County Council, who provided funding to secure the event going ahead.  We really appreciate your support for our community event.

By Kendal Greaves