Apple Day Could Blossom Into Annual Event
9th November 2011
Organisers of the Highland's first apple day have heralded the event as a blossoming success that has sown the seed for future annual celebrations.
Over 200 people recently attended the inaugural apple day at Inverness Floral Hall on 22 October.
Event organiser, Jonathan Willet, Highland Council's Biodiversity Officer said: "Queues of people who brought apples to be identified by experts were almost out of the marquee door at one point. Apple experts Andrew Lear and Ken Millston were kept very busy throughout the day and were exhausted but very satisfied after three hours of apple identification. Some mystery apples that stumped the experts were taken away for further identification."
He added: "Highland Council's Countryside Rangers put on an excellent show of apple events, with a strong contest in the longest apple peel competition. Pin the maggot on the apple was also a core attraction and children of all ages had a go. The display of 72 different varieties of apple was of great interest and the aroma of all the apples was wonderful.
"The taste sensation of the day was provided by members of Transition Black Isle1 who brought along an apple press and produced freshly pressed apple juice for sampling. It certainly was cloudy but tasted fantastic. A purpose built apple smoosher, smooshed the apples prior to pressing. All left over apple pulp was cooked up into apple jelly so that it was not wasted."
One of the objectives of Apple Day was a public appeal to locate and map apple trees growing throughout the Highlands. The number of dots on the apple map reached over 100 locations.
Jonathan remarked: "We also received a record of the highest apple tree in the Highlands which is a single tree growing at 850 feet against a wall at a house near Gorthleck. I would be interested to know if anyone has an apple tree that grows higher than this?
"We were really pleased that so many folk came along on the day. Having two apple experts certainly allowed the huge number of apples that were brought along on the day to be identified. We hope to build on the success of this event and run another apple day in 2013."
Highland's Apple Map is on the Council's website at www.highland.gov.uk/applemap. Anyone who would like to submit their apple trees for inclusion on the apple map can contact Jonathan Willet on 01463 702274 or email jonathan.willet[AT]highland.gov.uk
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
