Home Page
|
|
Diary
|
|
Pub News
|
|
Walking
|
|
Contacts
|
|
Map
|
|
Links
|
23rd Annual Ale
& Steam Festival |
North Cotswold Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale |
Once again blessed with fine weather the very popular Ale and Steam
Weekend, held this year on 13th to 15th June, was a great
success. Held in collaboration with the
Glos.& Warwickshire Steam Railway at Winchcombe & Toddington stations
with the heritage steam & diesel trains transporting festival goers in from
Cheltenham Racecourse & Broadway stations.
Winchcombe Station had 28 beers plus 2
reserves and 8 ciders. The beer theme this year was ales from breweries in the Southwest along with a
selection of local ales. Most of the beers, including 2 of the 4 reserves,
& all of the ciders sold out. The bars at both stations were very busy,
particularly on Saturday afternoon. |
|
|
The Toddington bar had 18 beers and 2
reserves plus 5 ciders. By Sunday morning only a few beers and ciders
remained for customers at the Stations, fortunately it was a much quieter day
so there was just about sufficient to keep the customers happy until the last
trains. The picture shoes the Toddington bar on Sunday. |
The first local beer to run out, so our
local ale festival winner was Summer
Solstice a particularly
refreshing golden ale from North Cotswold brewery. The first SW guest ale to
go was Miniature Cymbals a beautifully balanced, light pale ale
from the Verdant Brewing Co. down in Cornwall. So, our SW ale of the
festival. Cider This year we had 4 x 20 litre boxes of
cider at Toddington with one additional reserve 20l box, 5 Boxes in total. By
1.30pm in Saturday Toddington were all ready getting very low on cider, as it
seems that many more people have decided to start the day at Toddington
before moving to Winchcombe. So a quick discussion between Martin Jones and
an urgent phone call was made by Martin Jones and an extra box was brought to
Toddington by the reliable Pearsons Cider. This was all gone by Saturday
evening. That’s 240 pints at Toddington alone. At Winchcombe we had 8 x 20l boxes with
a 9th as a reserve, 360 pints. By 3pm on Saturday Winchcombe too
was getting close to running out!. So, after a powwow, the wonderful Sarah
Jackson kindly drove me from Winchcombe to Cheltenham, and back, to collect a
10th box of cider I had in my garage for another event, to ensure
the festival didn’t run out too early. That’s was a previous winner of
Moreton festival, The glorious Discovery medium by Old Stag Cider. By Sunday
this box was down to 5 litres and 10 litres of Old Stag Kingston Black dry
remained. The Discovery lasted very little time on Sunday. So all in, the two
bars drank the best part of 640 pints of cider!! Fab!! The first to sell at Toddington was
Cotswold Ciders She Devil sweet Cider, but as this is a much smaller
bar with less choice it was agreed that the two bars would be judged
separately. The first to sell out at Winchcombe was the returning champion, Elderflower Infusion by Priors Tipple medium sweet cider. So
these two ciders are both worthy winners equally awarded 1st |
|
Beer and cider serving underway at
Winchcombe >>> |
|
|
<< The Toddington Marquee on Sunday |
GWR Steam engine no. 3850 at Winchcombe
>>> |
|
|
<< The same engine at Toddington |
Thirsty customers at
Winchcombe, with the glass & token stand on the right >>> |
|
Most people retained their Festival
Glasses, sponsored by the Bell at Moreton. Many thanks to them and North Cotswold Brewery who sponsored the green staff polo shirts.
Special thanks must go again to Alan
Stenton for his help with getting the business plan together, Roger Merrett for
his help with the excellent brewery & beer selections and to Cider
Coordinator James Fry for his selection of "quality" local ciders.
Martyn Jackson, for compiling the festival beer & cider lists, Chris Knight
for printing the cask labels, Martin Jones for assistance with the floor
protection at Winchcombe, Roger Price for setting up the cooling fans and Dick
and Dawn Harrisson for the Token and Glass sales and dealing with the finances.
At Toddington the team of Rob James as bar manager and Peter Rowe for the Token
and Glass sales and signage & of course our army of volunteer helpers
without whom the event could not take place. Many thanks must also go to Rob,
Sam & Ali Brady at The Good
Beer Co who provided the SW range
of beers plus all the racking & Mudway
Workmen for providing the Marquees,
tables and chairs. These companies continue to support all our festivals which
is very much appreciated. We must also say a huge thank you to all the
volunteers who support all the activities of the GWSR. Essential.
The Railway were again delighted with the
numbers of rail travellers over the weekend. Over 1000 people again attended
the festival, exceeding our budgeted 950. More good news as our Membership
Secretary Garry Hayward recruited 4 new members for CAMRA. Most of all, many
thanks to our customers who turned up to drink us dry, I do hope we will all be
able to return next year for the 24th Ale & Steam. Look forward
to seeing you at our other Festival the Moreton Beer and Cider Festival on 13th
and 14th September 2024 at Moreton Cricket Club Cricket Club.
Beer reports by Alan McLellan Ale and Steam
Festival Director.
Cider reports by James Fry