Seasonal Celebrations of English Apples and Cider
in the Herefordshire Parishes of the Marcle Ridge
Aylton, Little Marcle, Much Marcle, Munsley, Pixley, Putley and Woolhope
Cider and Perry Trials 2008
Where: Putley Village Hall, Herefordshire, HR8 2QN (Map)
When: Saturday May 3rd 2pm - 4pm
Who: Craft cider and perry makers.
Entries up by 50%
We have received entries from 58 cider and perry makers this year, with a total number of entries of 160. This is about 50% more than last year so we had a very interesting time on Saturday afternoon. However, there had to be winners and you can download the winners in each class here. (PDF)
With 57 entrants and over 160 entries, it was quite a challenge for some of the makers to complete the judging in the two hours allotted, particularly those in the draught cider classes - we had 36 dry ciders, 30 medium and 19 sweet and some makers entered all three. This is a peer-judged competition with each entrant taking part in the judging in the class or classes they had entered. There were plenty of smiles on peoples faces by the end of the voting session!
Some of the happy winners are shown below with Helen Thomas (right) who presented the certificates and prizes. Helen is the great granddaughter of Henry Weston who started Weston's Cider at Much Marcle and is now managing director of the successful family firm.
Champion Cidermaker was Peter Mitchell, who achieved second place in both the dry and medium draught cider classes. This year we had an overseas entrant and winner - Gary Awdey from Eden in New York State submitted an entry in the Sweet Draught class and came first. Clearly he makes cider that travels well!
James Marsden was Champion Perrymaker again - is there no stopping this man? Perhaps he should keep an eye on our novice champion, Rosie Cale, who came first in the Novice Perry and second in Novice Cider classes. This youngster could go far!
Daring Rescue
During the pause between the end of voting and the announcement of the results, the makers carried out a rescue operation. During the morning a swallow had flown into the hall and was unable to find its way out. It spent the next few hours flitting around the ceiling and attempting to escape through a closed upper window. A suitable ladder was found (and checked to ensure it was safe) and the intrepid Nigel Sweet scaled the heights of Putley Village Hall and opened the window. The swallow flew back outside to the cheers of the assembled crowd!