Apple Festival
East Cambridgeshire District Council is holding its third Apple Festival on Saturday 25th October on Palace Green and St MaryÕs Green, Ely in celebration of the great British Apple.
Running throughout the day will be apple related stalls selling everything from apple chuntney to apple juice. The popular Apple Cafe is back where you can sit and relax in the Cathedral Centre and enjoy a variety of apple related refreshments. Also in the Cathedral Centre will be a display of apples and foliage by Ely's Flower Arranging Club. In the upper room there will be a vareity of activities for children such as colouring, making apple crumbles and planting your own apple seed in a self decorated pot.
We have several competitions and activities running throughout the day including the longest apple peeling competition, guess the weight of the apple, apple and spoon races as well as an apple shy. The competitions are being manned by Ely Lions and Leos with the small entry fees being donated to local charities. Information stalls, sales of apples, a woodturner demonstration and folk music all add to the fun of the day which runs from 10.30 am until 3.30 pm.
We are running a competition with Watergull Orchards who are growers of a vast variety of apples and produce a full range of apple juices. Based in Sutton they are regulars to Ely's Farmers Market. They also produce a very dry cider and we are on the search to find the best hot cider recipe in East Cambridgeshire. The rules are simple - the only alcohol allowed in the recipe is dry cider other than that, any other edible ingredient can be added to make a beverage that can be enjoyed warm on a crisp autumn day. We do suggest however that one of the ingredients should be a sweetener such as sugar or honey so that the taste can appeal to a wide majority. All lived in Cambridge during the week, and came to Swaffham Prior at week ends. Tom was the faster walker, so he gave his brother an hour's start when they walked into Cambridge on Monday mornings, and they arrived together. During frosty spells they skated into Cambridge on Sunday evenings. In Swaffham Prior they sang in the church choir. They were distinctive village characters with their long white beards.