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20th Annual Ale &
Steam Weekend May 27th to 29th |
North Cotswold Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale |
Records are
Shattered Once Again!
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Blessed with fine weather the increasingly popular Ale and Steam Weekend held on 27th to 29th May was a massive success with all beer and cider selling out by close of play on Saturday 28th May. Reserves were tapped with 5 new casks available for the Sunday, just at Winchcombe, along with two reserve ciders. Most of these were sold on the limited Sunday traffic. Everything was wrapped up and closed by 4-30 pm. The initial line-up of beers at Winchcombe see right. Here we had 36 beers and 10 ciders. |
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The Festival was held over three days, with the Toddington bar open at its new location adjacent to platform one with 14 beers and 4 Ciders, seen left. |
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Friday traffic was double the anticipated
numbers in great continuous sunshine. The beer theme traditional at
Toddington, also included Winchcombe this year, was East Midland beers
following their success at the Morton Beer festival in September 2021. The railway provided steam power for the
main trains. Seen right is the star of the show, Merchant Navy Class 35006 Penninsular
& Oriental S.N. Co. |
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Toddington
provided the first beer to run out at 11:45hrs on Saturday, Dancing Duck 22 a 4.5% Bitter from Derby. (2nd
from left in photo) Hence Festival Winner. The first to empty at Winchcombe,
at about 14:30hrs,was Hop til you Drop, from Derby
Brewing. |
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Cider of the Festival, served at Winchcombe, ran out on Friday at 14:00hrs, this was Old Stag’s Whiskey Cider a 6% Dabinett cider matured in Whiskey oak casks from Fairford, followed by Priors Tipple Elderflower 7% med dry cider from Stanton. |
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By Sunday morning, 5 reserve local beers and two ciders remained at Winchcombe. Toddington was dry from 2:30 pm on Saturday. Sunday a quieter day at Winchcombe, but sufficient customers to finish almost all stocks by 4pm including staff take outs. Most people retained their Festival Glasses sponsored by the Horse and Groom at Upper Oddington. Many thanks to them and The Crown and Trumpet at Broadway who sponsored the navy staff polo shirts and Token Cards. Staff wrist Bands were sponsored by the Inn on the Marsh at Moreton. |
^ Long queues for the bar at Toddington on Saturday ^ |
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< Long queues for the Cider bar at
Winchcombe on Saturday. Congratulations to Festival Beer
Coordinator Martyn Herbert & his team for their selection and to Cider
Coordinator James Fry for his selection of "quality" local ciders
and Perry. Congratualtions to Rob Brady &The
Good Beer Co who provided the National range of beer plus the racking. Mudway
Workman for providing the Marquees, tables and chairs. These companies
support all our festivals, so many thanks to them. Many thanks also to the army of volunteer helpers, without whom the event could not even take place. |
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Helpers at Winchcombe on
the Cider Bar, during a quieter spell > |
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< The Bar in the Marquee at Toddington |
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Four of the Helpers at Toddington, recovering after the rush on Saturday > |
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< We couldn’t run these festivals without you
the drinkers. A group seen right at Winchcombe, enjoying the fine weather. |
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The Railway were delighted with the 1400 rail travellers and reported
new record train travel over the Weekend. At least a 1000 attended the
festival, a new record exceeding our budgeted 900.
More good news as our Membership Secretary Garry Hayward recruited 12
new members for CAMRA. We look forward to seeing you all at the 15th
Moreton Festival on 9th and 10th September.2022
Next year there will be the 21st Annual Ale and Steam provisionally on 19th to 21st of June 2023. Put the date on next years planner, in the diary & in the phone.
Report by: Alan McLellan, Festival
Director, with photos supplied by Roger Price & Peter Rowe