The first Northwich Victoria beer festival was a huge sucess, raising nearly £2000. So much so, that the 2ND NVFC Beer Festival is planned for SATURDAY 12th JUNE 2010 - get the date in your diary!!!!

The first NVFC Beer Festival

After all the planning and worrying if we would be able to hold the first ever NVFC Beer Festival at the Victoria Stadium our fears were removed and the event would take place as organised. A trip to the ground to make sure the area chosen was shaded, Tony and I had an enjoyable morning watching our first efforts of creating a bit of shade peel off the glass as the temperature began to rise, we took Joe’s suggestion of advertising boards on the roof and it worked well. Mike Elliott Beer Festival Services had set up a splendid bar at the ground for us, all the beers and ciders were delivered or collected and after the beers had been tapped and vented by Mike we were all set.

A last minute swap shop re some tickets was done, though a few tickets remained unused, the policy of selling the tickets in advance meaning that the Club would not lose out.

Saturday was soon upon us and after getting to the venue early for a practice in pulling a couple of test halves for those who had never done so before or were a bit rusty, we went on to move more chairs and tables into the room in readiness for the attendees of the festival.

Even though the tickets had 5:30pm as the start time for the festival some people arrived early and they had a look of disappointment when we told them that they would have to hold on a short while before they could come in. We relented though and our first NVFC beer festival was underway with a steady stream of people arriving in either Taxi, lift or via the Trust sponsored mini bus (cheers to Paul for driving).

With raffle tickets’ going well, thanks to Ivan’s wife and Phil’s wife was doing a great job of greeting the festival goers with their glass and coaster (PS best not to put glass through the dishwasher, wash it by hand) whilst Phil was selling the beer tickets. We also enlisted the help of Keith from the Penny Black behind the bar; he had just finished his days work at the pub and came straight up to help us out.

We soon had a room full of people and a queue at the bar, though I did find out that this was due to Tony (Shandy Dave) Rogers trying to get all the drinkers to taste a couple of beers before they purchased one, this practice was soon ended and Bruce banished him from the bar and as punishment he was given the task of increasing raffle ticket sales. With the bar now in full swing all were enjoying some of Cheshire’s finest ales and ciders, the room was soon filled with the chatter and laughter of people having a great time.

Andy Preece made an appearance at the festival which we were unaware he was going to do; so we are very grateful to him for this, he was walking round the room chatting to the fans, though some fans the following morning could not remember chatting with him.

The raffle and mini auction took place with Alex having to use a megaphone to have himself heard, I do not think that Jim realised that we had so many prizes to draw out from the raffle. The bidding in the auction was ruthless, with a sealed bid taking the signed Chelsea shirt, the two signed Vics shirts were soon snapped up, two West Ham fans bidding for the Dean Ashton signed boots, several in the room bidding for the stained glass emblem with Rod eventually getting the FA Trophy canvas photo then donating it to Jim to hang in the boardroom.

As the night went on, people started to drift away leaving a few hard core real ale drinkers completing their sweep of the bar from one cider, all of the ales then finishing with the second cider.

The evening drew to a close at just before midnight, and we made our way home, the first NVFC Beer Festival was now just a memory. There were a few sore heads being reported the following morning but the main thing being said was that the evening had been a good success and that everyone had had a splendid evening and the fans were back to doing what they used to do enjoying an evening out raising money for the club..

It is hoped that the NVFC Beer Festival Committee has been able to raise just short of £2000 from the event, we are to look at the possibility of another event sometime in the future.

Many thanks to all who attended, sponsored barrels, bought raffle tickets and items in the auction, the Trust for the mini bus and Paul for driving it, Mike & Mark Elliott for setting up the bar, Andy Preece for making an appearance during the evening and Jim Rushe for letting us hold the event and all of the Festival helpers on the evening.

Cheers Pez
On behalf of the Beer Festival Committee