Probably me and @Pds are good people to talk to regarding apple trees.
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I would clean the tree, one part vinegar to two parts water, with a brush or broom, it looks bacterial or possibly aphids.
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Thanks Rupert - the white stuff is like fluffy cotton and the brown stuff is maybe like a dirty spiders web thing?
I have been spraying with vinegar and water solutions but I have never tried to brush it off.
I will do that - hopefully tomorrow as it is a bit late now, but you never know. I might just get out before it gets dark and give it a go.
Thank you 
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Moulds, fungus need to be removed. It may take years but it gives the tree a fighting chance. If it is an old tree, one respects its age and diseases will be apparent but it’s just a matter of continuously giving it care.
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Its not fungi, It looks like caterpillar webbing to me.
I’ve never had it in my garden but I have seen it when out walking in the past and this is the time of year/weather for it.
Lorraine
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I have a feeling you are right about the caterpillar webs Lorraine - I will check tomorrow.
@Rups is right about the fungus - the white stuff is fungus. We’ve had that for the last four/five years and the tree is very old. I say that, it is about 40 years old. No idea about how long apple trees live before they have to be retired.
This tree has been transplanted twice. First time it was rescued from a local house that was being demolished and a few years later it moved to a new home 200 miles away!!
It’s Mum’s cherished possession.
She loved to sit in the shade the tree provided whilst having her lunch
She’d show it off to visitors every summer - maybe she’ll do the same again soon.
Thank you both for your help.
So it’s caterpillars webs and white fungus. I’ll clean the fungus and leave the webs. Caterpillars (different to this variety) eat all the greens every year. We don’t actually get to eat much of what we grow
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Hopefully @pds will jump in because he has years of knowledge. I would say, clear dead wood but don’t go overboard. A lovely old tree is ready to retire at some stage. Just gentle cleansing of infected areas and a good mulch around it. It looks like a crab apple in the photos. Do you know what type it is?
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Hi Rups - I don’t know the variety but I don’t believe it’s a crab apple. When ripe the apples are like braeburns - tangy with a bit of sweetness and grow to the size of a tennis ball. I will post more pictures when ripe.
In the meantime, I have done some close-ups of the fungus/web and as @EmeraldEyes suggested it is webbing.
There are caterpillar eggs in the web and I saw two caterpillars as well.
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@Rups Oh look at him, or her. What a beaut!
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@ManjiB I#, wondering if it is a type of Moth?
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Yes, it could be but I am not sure.
I think the article that Lorraine put me onto suggested it was a moth.
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I know what you might find useful for identifying plants/bugs/wildlife, you need the Seek app on your phone.
It would be pretty good at identifying all that for you, so as you select the right option
Lorraine
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Thanks - I will install it once I get my act together
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Are you acting too? What in? Is it theatre?
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Further to my post from earlier this year on 13 June, I now have some pictures of the apples.
I did not get a chance to spray down the fungus and left the caterpillar webs as they were i.e. let nature takes its course due to lack of time and possibly apathy?
Anyway, it seems the apples are doing nicely and the squirrel(s) are only having the occasional nibble and so only a few apples have been lost in that way.
I am now toying with buying an apple picker so I can harvest the apples high up in the tree but again, this may not happen.
They are nice to look at and when the sun comes out, Mum can sit on the decking and look up to the tree - a tree under which she used to take shade and have lunch/afternoon tea
As you can see, the tree trunk which was coated in white fungus is now pretty much clear.
Only question is whether the caterpillars or maggots have made their homes in the apples.
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Looks like you’ll have a bumper crop of apples this year. Our trees are looking loaded too. I’m looking forward to a nice slice of apple cake when they are ready.
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Yes - rather looking forward to eating some this year. I haven’t eaten an apple from this tree for more than 6 years now. It was brutally cut back by my over eager brother-in-law and it took a few years to recover from the stress and then last couple of years there was a small crop or no crop (no bees to pollinate?). This year is looking good and I am determined to have a few apples. Haven’t had apple crumble or apple crisp.
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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed trawling through the posts here, I’d be quite lost without my garden. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the apples @ManjiB. I’ve got a few trees in my garden, but the one I’ve really got hopes for is our mirabelle. We’ve managed to keep the pigeons away this year and the fruit has loved the warm weather. I thought I’d share my mirabilis here too - similar spelling but very different plants. They cheer me every time I open the back door, so I hope others will enjoy them.
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I was looking for the fruit in the pictures as I wasn’t too sure I knew what a mirabelle fruit looked like and I thought this is a strange fruit though very colourful
Then I read on and was relieved I wasn’t going mad as the pictures are of flowers, or are they?
Well they’re very colourful and very pleasing to the eye - thank you for sharing with us. I can definitely see why you cheer up when you open the back door. Do they by any chance have a scent or is it colour only?
Wonderful pictures
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Definitely flowers. Lots of scent, subtly different for each colour. They’re also called 4 o’clock plants because they close in the heat of the day and open when it gets cooler in the afternoon. I’ll post some mirabelle pictures when they’re riper, at the moment they’re very green aamd boring. They’re little yellow plums, and very tasty.
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