Wassail The Trees, January 2026.
Wassail The Trees, January 2026.
Wassailing the Trees was a community Wassail in Kings Heath Park Birmingham on the 18th of January 2026, Hosted by the organisation Birmingham Tree People in celebration of the opening of their new tree nursery. Curated and delivered by artists from A Book of Portraits company.
Our first Wassail in Kings Heath. It was a great pleasure to facilitate a new event in the local park for this vibrant community, a community that many members of the company belong to or have done in the past. I have spent countless mornings waiting just outside the park for the 76 bus, never considering that one day we would be waking up the trees within it. This wassail saw the creation of our Tree Man, the revival of many of our wassail songs and the writing of a new one, to celebrate The Wise Old Oak. The trees were awoken; we banished the bad spirits; an apple tree was planted with the help of many; we waited for the spring and sang to its coming, before taking each other hand in hand to chain the pines for a favourable tomorrow. Here’s to next year!
Alex Kaniewski
The Event
Its Our Wassail
Thank you to the amazing community of Kings Heath for joining us to Wassail the Trees. A Book of Portraits focuses on developing and facilitating accessible and enjoyable participatory music and theatre events with many communities across the Midlands. We continue to learn from each event and hope to provide an environment where anyone can feel comfortable taking part and joining in the fun.
After Party
One of the purposes of this event was to celebrate the opening of a new tree nursery run by Birmingham Tree People. The organisation plants and establish new trees in the city, and are advocates for all trees across Birmingham, working directly with communities for greater tree equity. We are very grateful to Birmingham Tree People for hosting this event and supporting us as a company.
If you wish to find out more about the work of Birmingham Tree People please check out their website: birminghamtreepeople.org.uk