See in the New Year at the Barlaston Wassail

Author: Jamie Summerfield
Published: 17th December, 2014 @ 12:52
Updated: 2nd January, 2015

The eleventh Barlaston Wassail takes place on New Year’s Eve as the village’s Anglo Saxon heritage is celebrated and the New Year seen in with a difference!

And for the first time this year there are two events taking place.

A Children’s Wassail on the village green – new for 2014 – starts at 5.30pm and will include the crowning of the Wassail Queen and the resurrection of the Father of the Village, Beornwulf. Barlaston is named after ‘Beornwulf’, who is believed to have been the first Anglo Saxon settler in the village.

The second event is the famous Wassail Walk, which begins at Orchard Place, Barlaston, at 9.30pm, culminating in a torchlit procession followed by dancing around the tree outside the Duke of York Inn! Twelve Saxon-themed banners, one for each month of the year, are carried in the procession and placed at the pub. Anglo Saxon verses are declaimed and of course Auld Lang Syne is sung. It costs £3 per adult to take part.

Call Tim Cockin on 01782 372067 or email timcockin@yahoo.com for more information about this year’s Barlaston Wassail.