THE plough was blessed, ancient rituals were performed and the crops were urged to grow and give forth of their produce.

In Avebury the ancient custom of wassailing came alive at the weekend with ceremonies created by villagers, the parish church and the National Trust, with Gordon Rimes as master of ceremonies.

"It is a time for the Trust, the church, pagans and the villagers to do something together," he said, "We took the plough to the farmers of the village and God Speed the Plough was sung on Sunday."

Mr Rimes lives in the village has a background of entertainment and organising events before his retirement.

He was helped organise the event combining the Mummers Boxing Day play, Twelfth Night celebrations and Plough Monday when traditionally farm work restarted.

The customs date back centuries but this was the sixth time the event has taken place in the village after a lapse of many decades with scores of people in attendance.

On Saturday Mr Rimes led a procession of The Jolly Boys to the barn and on to the Manor House where there were bowls of mulled cider and apple cake.

Mr Rimes adapted the Mummers play to include fragments of the original Avebury Mummers play from the nineteenth century and hopes to form a village Mummers side.

The Reverend Maria Shepherdson blessed the plough, and invited everyone to dress it with greenery and good wishes before it was presented to the village's local farming community represented by Judy and Tony Farthing and others. The plough was taken to St James church, Avebury, where the children of farming families had their toy farm vehicles blessed as part of the Sunday service.

Mr Rimes said they kept the event low key so the village didn't get swamped by large numbers of visitors making it unmanageable.