What better way to celebrate Armed Forces day than with a Pasty and a Cider? 

At least that’s what our Members thought when they joined us for a Zoom Cider and Pasty tasting session in June. 

The event was hosted by Adam Fox Edwards, who owns the company which kindly provided the cider for our Members to taste. Adam is also an ex-tornado fighter pilot, and gave us a fascinating talk about his experiences in service as he talked us through the different tasting notes of the cider. 

This event was open to all Members in the North East, South, North West and Northern Ireland, so it was good to see a wide range of Members in attendance, joining together virtually from all over the country. There were over 70 Members and their partners in attendance which was really great to see. 

When Adam concluded his story of service in the Tornado Fighter plane, he was met with a round of applause by Members – a touching end to the evening. 

Here’s what some of our Participants had to say about the event: 

“Thanks once again for another great Zoom activity, we both found it very interesting listening to Adam’s times whilst in the RAF as a fighter pilot and how he came back to Devon. To supply all locally produced food, which he bakes on premises, to explaining the different ciders to compliment the pastries – it was definitely ‘food for thought’! All in all a great evening”.   

“In one word – ‘brilliant’!  Adam presented that perfectly intertwining his story (which was great) with the various tasting bits (which were equally great), and of the course the hamper itself was excellent. The finishing touch was having the 4 regions involved – great to see Blesma people from across the UK! Brilliant 1hr 15mins – big well done to everyone involved in organising that, and a big thank you to Adam and Devon Hampers”.  

“A fantastic social event. Great to see folks from four areas all having a great time. The RAF pilot talk was excellent as was the description of the locally sourced Devon products. Most of all, people stayed on and chatted for ages. Top notch event. Please pass on my thanks to the regional Outreach Officers. Just brilliant!”

“ We loved the cider and the food, but best of all was seeing people and faces from around the country, some of which we met  a couple years ago before all this covid  business. We have been in touch on Facebook and Whatsapp but just to see them smiling made us go all squishy inside. Did we mention that we loved the cider!”