Todmorden’s community came together on Sunday the 4th of October for Incredible Edible Todmorden’s inaugural Apple Day.

Todmorden has over 500 apple trees planted around the town, an amazing legacy left by Incredible Edible Todmorden, past residents and different community groups. We wanted to do something to mark the beginning on autumn, celebrate this legacy, and make the most of the town’s bountiful apple harvest.

Over 250 people from across Todmorden and further afield came together for the event’s morning session at Todmorden Community College, with lots of families, groups, and individuals joining in the fun.

They gathered apples from around the town using a specially commissioned apple map designed by Chris Alton with artwork by Alice Pike, pressed the apples into juice, collected the pulp, and learned how to get the most from their harvests. Some people generously brought apples to juice and share, too.

David from IET hosted an apple and chilli hot sauce-making session, while Catherine and Emmy led a range of fun crafts for all ages, including making bird feeders with windfall apples, creating banners, and decorating bunting for next year.

Local community orchard expert Karl Roscoe also joined us, kindly sharing advice on growing and caring for apple trees and getting the best out of harvests.

Lunch was provided by our good friends at One of a Kind, who did an amazing job catering for so many people with delicious curry and apple-based goodies.

Then it was time for the afternoon session at the Whole Foods Café, with Holly Eldson from the Folklore Centre leading a fascinating session on the folklore of apples complete with apple head carving, and local storyteller and artist Alice Pike leading a children’s craft and storytelling session with music and sound effects from Daniel Capon.

And finally, to end the day, CAMRA award-winning cider pub of the year Nan Moor’s hosted an informative (and delicious!) cider tasting with cider expert Phil Kennedy, who took attendees on a journey from local to international ciders, sharing his expertise on cider making and its history.

Incredible Edible Todmorden hopes to make this a yearly event, and we are already planning on expanding the day next year to be even bigger, incorporating more activities, venues and apple-based fun.

This year’s event was very kindly supported by the Community Foundation for Calderdale, who awarded us funding to invest in equipment, promotion and room hire. We were able to make everything but the cider tasting completely free, which was a big goal for the event.

Our attendees we very kind too, with one summarising the day as a “very lovely community event bringing people together and helping feel connected to the seasons through prepping the apples.”

We’d also like to thank everyone who attended, volunteered, offered advice, and supported this event. It was a huge success, and we’re already excited for Apple Day 2027!