Bramley Apple Festival takes place in Southwell tomorrow

A festival set up to celebrate Southwell's unique connection with the nation's favourite cooking apple will celebrate its 25th anniversary tomorrow.

The Bramley Apple Festival will get underway at 10am with a parade of Morris dancers and apple-pickers along King Street, Southwell, which will be closed to traffic during throughout the day.

The event is due to be officially opened at Southwell Minster by the Master Fruiterer of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, Mr John Warner.

Musician Oliver Wheeldon has composed a new Bramley wassail song, which he will perform at the opening ceremony.

Mrs Ceila Steven, the great granddaughter of Henry Merryweather ­— the nurseryman who first grew the Bramley apple commercially ­— said the event was very important to the local area.

"It was set up as part of the programme to attract tourists and has grown over the years," she said.

She has been involved in helping to promote Bramley apples for about 50 years. She now lives in Devon but will be returning to Southwell for the festival with her Japanese guests.

Special guests at the festival will include visitors from Japan, where the Bramley has its own fan club, and an author from the US.

Japanese author Sakuko Kitano, who features the Bramley in several of her books, is back again this year. She is currently doing research for a book looking at the history of the Bramley and its connection to the Women's Institute.

The other Japanese visitor will be Kimi Mizuno, who promotes the Bramley in Japan, where there is a Bramley Fan Club which she set up with colleagues.

Mrs Steven said the links with Japan had started 40 years ago when Mr Arai travelled from Japan to England looking for traditional apples.

"One of the ones he chose was the Bramley because it is so versatile," said Mrs Steven.

Mrs Steven said Bramleys were now grown in Japan where they were extremely popular.

American author Susan Allen will also be returning to the festival this year to read extracts from her latest Bramley-themed book.

The event is sponsored by Newark and Sherwood district, Southwell town, and Nottinghamshire county Councils, Kenwood, Denby and other supporters, which enables it to get better every year.

A Festival of Food and Drink with cookery demonstrations will be held in Southwell Minster. There will be more than 30 stalls representing the best of local produce.

The cathedral will also be used for a display of apples from John Hempsall’s Heritage Orchard while the Archbishop’s Palace and Education Centre will host apple-related children’s crafts and trails around the garden.

There will be apple-themed activities at the National Trust’s Southwell Workhouse where visitors can have a go at creating the longest apple peel and follow an apple trail.

Shops have been encouraged to put together apple-themed window displays. There will also be performances of music and dance by groups of Morris Men and the Minster School Ceilidh Band.

The WI annual apple pie contest and other competitions, along with their own apple day stalls and refreshments, will take place in the Bramley Centre.

The prize-giving ceremony will be held in the afternoon when this year’s Bramley Apple King, Queen, Prince and Princess will be crowned.

Southwell Library has organised the annual Bramley Apple Painting Competition and Exhibition and will host the prize-giving ceremonies for the painting and poetry competitions on the Sunday.

The festival was launched last week when a Bramley apple tree and a box of apples were presented to the winner of a special race at Southwell Racecourse.

The Bramley Apple Handicap Chase of just under two miles was won by eight-year-old bay gelding Cillian’s Well, trained by John Flint Stables and ridden by jockey Richard Patrick.

In addition to the £3,314 prize money, owner Phil Bell was presented with the tree and apples by Mr Roger Merryweather, the great grandson of Henry Merryweather and the chairman of the festival.

He has updated his book about the Bramley Apple, which was originally published in 1992, and will be launched in the town on Wednesday.

The new edition contains details about the purchase by Nottingham Trent University of the cottage and garden where the original Bramley apple tree can still be seen, and an update on how the original apple gene can be kept alive in the future.