Over 250 people joined us to take part in our first Wassailing celebration in January. After months of planning, it all came together with residents witnessing the awakening of the trees at the orchards in the West End of Leek, supported by Leek Morris, drummers and our special visitor – the fabulous Curlew courtesy of Outside Arts.
The purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the Community Orchards in Leek and bring back an old tradition that goes back almost a thousand years.
Children ‘toasted’ the trees with bread soaked in apple juice, while shouts of Wassail rang around the orchard. The giant Curlew was a favourite with young and old, adding a definite Moorlands twist to the traditional wassailing – we even managed to include a reference to oatcakes in the songs.
We are keen to get your comments on the event, so if you attended, please do give us your feedback here - Wassail Feedback. We hope to repeat the event next year, elsewhere in the town – if you would be interested in making it happen, look out for details of the planning meeting in the summer.
Leek town council have a video of the event here - https://www.facebook.com/100064678571095/videos/moorlands-wassail/1848098562499806/
See our illustrated report - Download Wassail_2026