End of festival Report 2008
THANK YOU
That’s a massive thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to the roaring success of the 2008 festival.
That means the CAMRA members and general public who attended, but especially to those who worked behind the bars and behind the scenes.
Not everyone realises the effort put in by branch members. The Colchester Arts Centre is a working venue and we have to transform it into the biggest pub in Essex from scratch in a couple of days. Then we’re open for 5 manic days, and have to transform it back in only a few hours, leaving it ready for Sunday night’s jazz performance.
In between, we have to co-ordinate the delivery and erection of everything we need – stillage, cooling systems, bars, glasses, beer and cider, crisps and nuts. And these days everything has to be done under strict Health & Safety rules – by a team of volunteers giving up their valuable time totally unpaid.
This year, logistics was a nightmare, as we knew we’d sell a lot more beer than we could display on the stillage at any one time, were using a new (to us) cooling system from CAMRA’s St Albans HQ, bars from Walton, stillage from Maldon and stuff from countless other suppliers. All of which had to arrive on a Bank Holiday Monday, and go back on a Sunday. We are indebted to our main beer supplier, Flying Firkin, for their assistance, along with all the local brewers who delivered their own beers direct when they should have been enjoying a day off with their families. And to all the set-up and knock down crew, especially our drivers Robin, Tweedy and Skip who were working to a punishing schedule.
Festivals like this lead to some unusual working alliances. Local brewers, normally in hot competition, worked together to co-ordinate deliveries. We sourced most of our cider and perry from the National Collection at Middle Farm, Lewes, East Sussex, and we thank Dark Star in Haywards Heath for keeping the ciders in their cool room until our distributors could collect them. Local firm I S Enterprises produced our brilliant polo shirts at short notice, even arranging an emergency delivery when we ran out (*see below). Also Colin Perry and Oxo of Tendring CAMRA for the use of their bars. And to the Mersea Island and Nethergate Breweries, John Parrick of the Odd One Out, and Fred Veasy at the Bricklayers, who helped us with emergency beer/cider reorders.
We mustn’t forget Scorchio and the Onion Band for providing great entertainment. And Mark, Sue and the staff at the Arts Centre. But mostly, all the CAMRA members from Colchester and other branches who made the whole thing possible. There are too many to thank individually, but I must make special mention of Big Al, our staffing officer, who ensured everyone knew what they were doing, Paul D for co-ordinating Health and Safety, and our front of House team who worked throughout with a smile, despite hardly getting a sniff of the beer! And of course Dave Inskip and his team for ensuring the beers were in tip-top condition from Tuesday to Saturday.
We had over 100 at our Trade & Press Session, and we know a number of publicans were talking to brewers, so hopefully we’ll be seeing a few more local beers in North Essex pubs. We presented a number of awards at this session, and congratulations go to:
- Simon & Linda of the British Grenadier, Colchester – our overall Pub of the Year
- Phil & Dom of the Chequers, Goldhanger – Rural Pub of the Year
- Fred & Hazel of the Bricklayers, Colchester – Committee Award for services to CAMRA and Real Ale
- Tom Knox of the Nethergate Brewery – Umbel Magna, Champion Beer of Essex 2008
- Nigel Lawes of the Shalford Brewery – Stoneley Bitter, Best Beer from a New Brewery
- Mike Harvey – retiring as CAMRA’s East Anglian Regional Director – for his steadfast work as a branch member, and continued support as RD
- Gill Harvey – for her contribution to the branch over so many years, and for putting up with Mike for even longer!
Our support for CAMRA’s “Mild Month” promotion was a great success – we had over 20 to choose from, and several resolute customers completed our “Mild Marathon” – we’ve now virtually run out of t-shirts from previous festivals, which were given as prizes.
Votes for our Beer of the Festival have now been counted:
- Champion Mild and Overall Champion Beer of the Festival – Hobson’s Mild (shows good taste on our part – also current Champion Beer of Britain)
- Champion Bitter under 5%, and Overall Runner-up - Hadley’s Bitter, Red Rat Brewery, Bury St Edmunds (great news for a new local brewery)
- Champion Strong Ale (shared) – Saxon Strong, Mighty Oak, Maldon & Centurian’s Ghost from the York Brewery
- Champion Cider - Oakwood Organic Medium (Single Varietal, Discovery apples), from the tiny Oakwood Farm in East Sussex
2,800 customers over 4½ days of opening
10, 368 pints of real ale consumed (a new record)
1,185 pints of real cider and perry (another record – up 30% on 2007)
185 pints of draught Belgian beer, along with over 700 bottles
25 bottles of local wine
5 pigs on the hog roast, with hundreds of burgers, bangers and veggie meals
We ran out of draught beer just 5 minutes before closing on Saturday – poor planning on my part, I suppose, but not bad overall!
So thankyou again, and here’s to the future – we’ll shortly be announcing the dates for our Second Winter Ale Festival in January 2009, and next year’s May Festival – our 24th.
And a quick note – don’t forget the Chelmsford Beer Festival, 8th – 12th July at their new venue, Admiral’s Park. Bigger and better than ever before, but desperately in need of volunteer staff – see http://www.chelmsfordcamra.org.uk/festival/index.html for details.
Cheers,
Big D
Colchester Beer Festival Organiser
*We were amazed at the demand for our polo shirts with the festival logo, and ran out a second time so plan another reorder. We’ve already taken several orders – if you would like one, please e-mail with size details – cost only £12 + postage (festival staff can get them at reduced prices). Available in black or dark green, up to marquee size!
Pictures of the festival can be found ... here
The crossword answers can be found ... here