Anniversary at core of apple festival

Apple-related activities helped to mark the bicentenary of Southwell’s Bramley apple on Saturday.

Celebrity chef Phil Vickery launched the Bramley Apple Festival with a cookery demonstration at Southwell Minster, where a food and drink festival featured more than 20 local suppliers.

Mr Vickery said: “The Bramley is the nicest apple to cook with and I will always choose it before any other apple.

“This is a fantastic event to show what produce we have here in Britain.”

Mr Vickery, who features on ITV’s This Morning, demonstrated three Bramley recipes — caramel toffee apple muffins, sticky chicken with a Bramley apple glaze, and a Thai curry featuring the apples.

The apple festival also featured cookery demonstrations, competitions, craft events and tours.

Mr Roger Merryweather, the great-grandson of Mr Henry Merryweather who first marketed the Bramley, attended with his sister, Mrs Celia Steven.

Mr Merryweather said: “It is a wonderful event. The most important thing is the way the town of Southwell has come together to celebrate the bicentenary.

“Everyone has done their bit and it has been a wonderful celebration of 200 years.”

Mrs Steven, who has travelled across the country to promote the Bramley apple and how to cook with it, said: “It really has gone around the world. It all began in Southwell but the apple belongs to the country and we should be proud of it.”

A Bramley Community Fund was launched at the festival. It hopes to raise £5,000, to be matched by the Nottinghamshire Community Foundation, to plant 50 Bramley trees in Nottinghamshire each year, mainly in schools.

A children’s competition to design a plate with a Bramley theme attracted about 150 entries.

The competition, in its first year, coincided with Denby Pottery’s bicentenary.

The winners — Izzy Meldrum (10) Charlotte Hall (7) Hannah Booth (6) and Ellie Meldrum (13) — will have their designs made into plates.

Mrs Linda Salt, of Denby Pottery, said: “We got together with the Bramley Apple Festival Committee because in our 200 years many Bramley apple pies will have been cooked on our dishes.”

The Bramley apple painting competition was won by Wendy Popper with her picture of a Bramley Apple Harvest.

There were more than 50 entries in the best-dressed shop front competition. The winner was Goffs.

The Workhouse held events throughout the day, including tours explaining the history of the Bramley apple and its link with Southwell.

Mrs Monica Askay, a cook and food historian, demonstrated traditional Bramley apple recipes.

The Bramley apple was grown from pips planted in Easthorpe in 1809 by Mary Ann Brailsford.

Impressed by the size and quality of the fruit, Mr Henry Merryweather asked if he could take a cutting so he could grow and sell the apples.

The garden was then owned by Mr Matthew Bramley who agreed but insisted the apples bore his name.