No tree surgeon, just me and my brother so we need to clear up ourselves.
Yes we use the apples, I bag them and give to anyone that will take them off my hands. This year I had so many that went rotton or half eaten by birds and insects before they dropped off. Some were the size of melons and had gone red but couldn't reach them. I've a horse field at the bottom of my garden and most of them ended up there, at least they wasn't wasted.
The decking will be in a shady area, just gets the sun midday till about 3pm so will be ideal for lunch time BBQs.