In a summer of cloudy skies and wet days – the sun shone on this year’s Beerfest and that meant everyone was out for a good time and they had one ….to the maximum. The facts speak for themselves
Beers – almost sold out
Food – sold out
BBQ – sold out
Cocktails (New offer) – sold out
Beer Fest site capacity – Saturday afternoon – almost maximum!
Yes – the popular underlying subtitle to this event which reflects what really happens – Septemberfest is probably a true reflection of how the event has evolved over the 10 events since it began in 2013. The heart of the event is the large selection of high-quality beers, expertly prepared and kept in our Community Centre beer cellar. They are fantastic and like everything else on offer; such as ciders, wines and food, are sold at a very reasonable price. This is a community event for the whole community to enjoy and especially on the Saturday when families are the focus.
Like last year and indeed all years, we innovated again. This year, we offered a small range of cocktails, which literally went down very well, and believe it or not we tested that well known beer type, but notoriously difficult to keep and serve: lager. That was also very well received and presents the committee with a real challenge. How do we serve a good quality draught lager, economically?
A further, innovation this year was to consciously ask our village youngsters to be involved and to earn some money for their teams. MF Juniors U14’s Football Team helped set up and dismantle the site and ran a ‘new to the event’ football game; the Scouts ran two games, throwing Tomahawks and Shooting Arrows at targets, Compass Martial Arts gave a display; whilst the Girls Netball Team, provided wonderful help on Saturday morning, resetting the site after the Friday night revelry. All this was in addition to last year’s ‘back by popular demand’ try and ride the Bucking Bronco experience.
As always, for those less inclined to learn how to ride or shoot, we provided high quality music to enjoy.
All this does not happen by chance, the core Beerfest Team met on a regular basis planning and organizing the event from February and put in a good stint over the weeks around the event with a lot of other helpers. It’s hard work but very rewarding when you see the smiling faces, accept the heartfelt thanks for putting on a great, enjoyable event and eventually you find out that £12,000 has been raised to share between the Teams, School PTA and Community Association, plus receive a congratulatory note from our MP Keir Mather.
That really does epitomize the CA ethos of putting the Fun into Fundraising
Thank you to everyone who supported the event and for those who couldn’t make it – why not give it a try next year on September 12th and 13th 2025. We think you will enjoy it!
