The Folk of Gloucester's third wassailing event takes place on Saturday, January 18.

Running from 10am to 4pm, there will be a packed programme of Morris dancing, music, food, drink, stalls and free children's activities.

The day will be topped off by the traditional Wassail ceremony with a log fire, apple tree blessing and wassail song.

Local folklorists have found a possible proof of ancient winter tradition in Gloucestershire. A chance conversation with a 90-year-old local man revealed evidence of a centuries-old folk custom that had nearly passed out of living memory.

The Apple Tree Wassail is a custom practised in the cider orchards of the south of England to bless the apple trees and bring in a year of fruitful harvests. First recorded as early as 1585, the celebration includes singing, Morris dancing, and pouring the last of the previous year's cider on the roots of the trees. Often, children are lifted to hang toast on the high tree branches to attract birds to the orchard.

Local resident Bill Taylor grew up singing the traditional Gloucestershire Wassail song in his school choir and became interested in folk customs as a teenager. In the 1990s, he met fellow folklorist Eric Freeman, who spoke about reviving the apple tree wassail in Gloucestershire.

Freeman knew the custom was still practised in Herefordshire but could find no evidence that it had been a Gloucestershire tradition. Despite this, they started organising wassail events in local orchards just for fun.

Then, at a wassail at Byfords Farm in Taynton, they got talking to a 90-year-old resident who had lived and worked on the neighbouring farm his whole life.

Bill Taylor said: "He remembered as a small boy he'd been lifted into a tree in the dark of the orchard. He could remember no more, but we felt that was a link to a lost wassailing tradition."

This chance encounter shows the importance of community events as a catalyst for uncovering and sharing oral history. More worryingly, it also shows how easily folk customs can pass out of living memory unless we actively keep tradition alive.

"Having been involved in Apple Day at the Folk of Gloucester for about 20 years and hearing about the Ashmead's Kernel tree in the garden [a specialist local apple breed], I suggested we should wassail it."

To Bill Taylor, seeing the community come together and celebrate a special moment in the year is a reminder of why folk traditions are still relevant and important today.

"Wassailing is part of my heritage and is part of the year's traditional calendar of events. It's a tradition we need to keep."