The Zecond was our first themed Festival with beers from Devon and Cornwall.  It featured Heritage Estate Agents as our first major sponsor and we managed to generate £3,000 for local Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer charities and support for needy causes in our area.  We were pleased to invite the Irish band “Shenanigans” back for the Slurd Festival in 2005.  Local businesses continued to support in growing numbers and with beers from Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire, who could forget the Bristol Comets mega Saturday night Rock and Roll evening with dancing ‘till we dropped (one or two literally).  Stowell Concrete emerged as a second major sponsor, supported by Heritage Estate Agents and Euro Building Services Ltd.  In addition to this, over 30 other private individuals and local businesses assisted us to generate just over £5,000 for local charities.  With additional funding from Yeo Valley Lions, cheques for £2,000 each were presented to the MS Centre in Nailsea, Jessie May Hospice and Yatton Junior Rugby Club.

Stowell Concrete and Euro Builders stayed with us for the Frothi Festival in 2006, when the theme was the Wars of the Roses, with beers from Yorkshire and Lancashire.  Now with our own racking, we were finding the setting up and organisation was much better.  The Friday and Saturday evening events were by now a sell-out and the Saturday afternoon became a connoisseurs’ period of quiet reflection, mellow tasting and relaxation to an eclectic blend of folk music and more modern songs.  The Barbeque, which had featured every year, did record business, thanks to special beer sausages and the final figure was again an increase on previous years this time going to Motivation, British Institute for Brain Injured Children (BIBIC) and Weston Hospicecare.

The Vth Festival featured beers from the Celtic Nations of Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales and even two beers from the Isle of Man.  The entertainment was superb: Shenanigans turned out again to open the Festival on the Friday, “Acoustic Rooster” played the Saturday and a family party emptied the barrels on the Sunday afternoon.  Stowell Concrete was joined again by Heritage Estate Agency as major sponsors and we introduced Festival Glasses which were a great success.  Pullins provided the rolls, Hodders the meats and Cadbury Hotel the bed to sleep in!  Over £6,000 was distributed to local charities, including the MS Centre Nailsea, NE Somerset Branch of the Parkinson’s Disease Society, Claverham & Winford Riding for the Disabled Association and Court de Wyck School (for a youth shelter & support for special needs children).

The Sexth Festival was no less successful with beers chosen from the East! Well the East of England anyway. The selection was again chosen to be a full range of richly-flavoured heavier beers right through to quaffable lighter beers suitable for the mid-summer season. Complemented again by a superb range of local ciders, and augmented with wines from rather further afield.

Saturday night was a ticket-only event at the Claverham Beer Festival, marking a new high in its six-year history. Music by one of the region’s top bands “Last Orders” (sponsored by Stowell Concrete) was only part of the reason of course. The 35 beers and 6 ciders were voted by CAMRA members and beer afficiandos alike as being among the best selection they have ever seen. Spokesman for the Committee Barry Straughton said “the committee worked hard to bring a balanced range of beers from many of the new micro-breweries in the South East of England as well as a few established names not often seen in our area”.

The opening night, with a capacity crowd drank record quantities, but whether that was due to the energetic playing of returning band Acoustic Rooster (sponsored by Bell and Stenton Opticians of Yatton), or just a feature of the “Friday People” for whom the opening night is a “not-to-be-missed” annual treat is hard to say. Stowell Concrete maintained their strong commitment and were our Entertainment Sponsor for Saturday Night with Last Orders who played really tight sounds from 50s to present day. The atmosphere throughout the weekend was one of great fun, and friendship with so many people commenting on just how nice and friendly the event is certainly this must be one of the best social events of the year.

The afternoons were both great fun, with live music from local singers on Saturday and a demonstration of Line Dancing from Mel and her ladies, whilst on Sunday the World Spoof Championships 2009. There was fierce competition, but with skill and aptitude Ellie Munro won through, and collected her silver trophy. With commendable modesty, Ellie commented “I am very pleased to be crowned World Champion today”. The Champion beer was Summer Solstice, a 4.2ABV ale with a clean taste and colour from Dark Star Brewing Company of West Sussex.

The theme was to support emergency services and proceeds in excess of £5,000 were divided between to the Air Ambulance, Avon and Somerset Cliff Rescue, Portishead Lifeboat, and Lions Charity work in the area.

The Festival has helped numerous charities and good causes, often for specific projects that otherwise might fail.  The 6 months worth of effort by the Committee is only made possible by the incredible support provided by our major sponsors and over 30 other private individuals and local businesses, many of which support year after year.

With a great line up of beers from the Borders (Scotland/England!), we had a sure fire winner for the Seventh Festival in 2009.  With one of the worst summers weatherwise. we snuggled in with a lovely warm and sunny couple of days, which really helped the party atmosphere.  Supported by our local sponsors, including our major sponsors Bell and Stenton Opticians and Stowell Concrete, we raised close to £5,000 profit which went towards major improvements to a very special playground in Kingston Seymour.  This playground is for disabled youngsters and has been carefully designed to provide a safe yet stimulating fun experience.  It is maintained by the Yeo Valley Lions throughout the year, and is regularly used throughout the spring and summer.

The Beer Festival is an important feature of the work within the community, and it is heartening to see the strength of community support it now seems to generate almost by itself.  This of course includes our sponsors, entertainers (who almost always constribute a section of their fee to the Festival funds) and also to the members of the public who turn up and have a really good time - without whom it would not work at all.  So give yourselves a big cheer. and write the date of next year's Festival in your diaries 2nd to 4th July 2010.