This year the scheme was a collaboration between HCF volunteers
and the Square Mile Project who were granted funding for equipment
by UnLtd. We expanded to three separate picks and three juicing
sessions. Over twenty different volunteers took part. Picks
happened in Nab Wood, Great/Little Horton and at the brilliant
Springfield Community Gardens scarecrow festival event.
Trees were shaken into tarpaulins held out beneath and windfalls
were 'hoovered up' with incredible gadgets called 'apple wizards'.
These are long handled, wire cage-like rollers, shaped like rugby
balls which splay open when rolled over apples. The apples collect
within the wire cage rollers like a lottery ball machine! Enormous
fun and back saving too. Remaining apples on the tree were picked
with extendable apple pickers. The juicer, borrowed from Bradford
Environmental Education Service is a great piece of traditional kit
and the apple juice was delicious.
Many, many boxes worth of apples were saved from rotting on the
ground. Some were donated to projects such as Horton Housing
homeless shelter and also the various groups that use the Bradford
Resource Centre such as the Red Cross, the Biasan asylum seekers
project and the Claimants Café. Some were also given to volunteers
and the remaining windfalls were juiced at West Bowling Community
Orchard's fantastic Apple Day. Thanks to all the tree owners
who kindly let us make use of their unwanted apples.