Shoppers were offered free apples in Hereford on Tuesday morning as part of a campaign launched by churches to make the feast of All Hallows - or Halloween - more fun and less frightening.

Each apple, locally produced, will have sticker on it, encouraging parents and others to visit a website offering a wide list of suggestions for enjoying the festival.

The campaign which began last year, aimed at increasing the range of goods available in supermarkets from "less grim" to more fun.

"A couple of years ago, the range of goods on offer were scary and ghoulish, giving the impression that Halloween is a frightening event with 'trick or treat' developing into a very anti-social form of behaviour," said Anni Holden, spokeswoman for the Church of England locally.

"After national discussions with the major retailers I am pleased to say that many have responded and after only a year of campaigning the range on offer is much wider."

Many organisations, from the police to groups for the elderly and child protection agencies, had begun to voice concerns about the more frightening aspects of the way celebrating Halloween had developed.

"We want kids to have a great Halloween, and we want to spark a wider public debate about the nature of our way of celebrating the date," said Holden. "We in the churches don't want to be killjoys but we believe that Halloween has the power to trivialise evil and can be portrayed as celebrating the triumph of evil over good - when in fact, as Christians, we hold that the opposite is true and that, in Christ, good conquers evil."

Many churches locally are planning alternative events for local children and young people to attend on 31 October which will stress the positive side of the feast which originates in All Hallows Eve or All Saints Eve, the night before the feast of All Saints on 1 November.