FREEZING weather did not deter Bere Ferrers residents from turning out for the annual wassail last Saturday night.

Clad in warm clothing, a capacity crowd gathered at the church hall for an interesting and informative introduction by Clive Charlton on the origins of wassailing.

He explained about the name 'wassail', which is derived from the Old Norse and is the origination for the word 'hail', meaning in good health.

Unfortunately, Dartmoor Border Morris, who are a regular feature of this wassailing event, were unable to attend due to the bad weather conditions.

After the talk, the Tavy Tars led villagers to the community orchard, where fairy lights and a roaring bonfire greeted them.

The Tavy Tars sang a couple of wassailing songs and then villagers made a loud noise and banged trays to frighten away the evil spirits from the trees. There were even a couple of gunshots to add to the noise! Toast was hung in some of the trees and others were anointed with cider.

The revellers returned to the hall, where they were given pasties and hot cider, accompanied by several rollicking songs from the Tavy Tars.

The Tavy and Tamar Apple Group chairman Brian Lamb, thanked everyone for turning out on a bitterly cold evening. He also thanked the Tavy Tars for standing in at short notice for the Dartmoor Border Morris, Richard Peden for preparing the orchard, Margaret Willmott for her invaluable help and Sally Baxter and her team for handing out the pasties and cider.

Profits from the evening will go to the Devon Air Ambulance.