Bawming the Thorn

I took a detour on the way home from work specifically to blip this. According to the plaque beneath the tree:

The Appleton Thorn.
This thorn tree is an off-shoot of the famous Glastonbury Thorn in Somerset. A thorn tree has stood here since the 12th Century when according to local historians, the original tree was planted by a Norman Knight Adam de Dutton. He was returning from the Crusades c.1178 when he made a pilgrimage to the abbey, bringing an off-shoot of the famous thorn back with him to plant on this site as a thanksgiving for his safe return. Over the centuries, the custom of 'Bawming the Thorn' grew up. 'Bawming' means decorating the tree with flowers and ribbons. This is done to the singing of the Bawming Song, written by R. E. Egerton-Warburton, a local Cheshire poet of the 19th Century, after which the village children dance around the tree.
This unique ceremony was revived in 1973 and since then is held annually on the third Saturday in June. This tree was presented to the village by the Appleton Thorn Women's Institute and was planted in 1967.

It's a lousy photo, which I have had to enhance to make it even this viewable. I'm not sure what happened to the camera settings other than worrying that the previous photos I took were of my next year's class!