Following the success of our first Apple Day in 2023 we repeated it at St Margaret’s Church on Saturday October 5th 2024. It proved to be another busy and successful event.
An amazing 677 kilograms of Apples were donated which would otherwise have gone to waste. Many of these were picked beforehand by energetic volunteers from local trees or dropped off by tree owners. A huge thank you to everyone!!
The wonderful Leeds Urban Harvest came along again to supervise the juicing activities with the local community and we also had enthusiastic help from 8 asylum seekers who came along with volunteers from Horsforth Town of Sanctuary. Residents of Horsforth and beyond were able to take away delicious fresh apple juice in their own containers to sample at home.
We had so many apples donated we were able to pass on 4 crates to Rethink Food, 2 crates to Alwoodley 2030 for their Apple Day, 10 crates to Leeds Urban Harvest, 6 crates of cooking apples for the Community Café and 2 crates of eating apples for the Community Pantry. All the pulp was composted locally, in gardens, allotments and in the Community Composting bin on Drury Field.
Inside the church we had the ever popular smoothie bike. Many smoothies were made with an apple juice base and additions of blackberries, bananas and other delicious fruit.
We had apple based crafts and apple printing. A beautiful mandala was also made using apples, twigs and leaves.
As well as using local produce to make local products, Apple Day also serves as a reminder of the importance of apple cultivation, biodiversity, and sustainable farming practices.If you or anyone you know has a tree and don’t use the fruit, get in touch and we’ll add you to our list for next year!
Since the event we have had some generous donations from two local residents. Two Apple presses and an apple picker. This is fantastic – a big thank you from everyone at HCA. We are now all ready and prepared for Apple Day 2025!