Whitchurch Forum

Hot on the heels of the excellent  Whitchurch Pub Festival comes the Whitchurch Beer Festival subtitled Beers, Bangers and Blues.

Postal sales tickets are selling fast with visitors coming to the town from as far away as Yorkshire and Kent!
As well sampling the many ales from local breweries all are being encouraged to visit the wonderful range of pubs our town offers.

Today tickets also went on sale from the bar at the Sports and Social Club.
They can also be delivered to you personally if you live in Whitchurch!
Contact:
[email protected]

Full details are on the Festival's website:
http://www.whitchurchbeerfestival.org.uk/

Enjoy!

It's to be hoped that visitors to the LSSC also visit the Town's Pubs and other businesses or any money taken will not directly benefit the Town. The landlords that I have spoken reported that no trade was seen from visitors to last year's event  :(.

Perhaps there could be a question on the best beer voting form to ask if visitors have make purchases in the town - this would supplement the information on business activity currently being gathered on trade in the town by the TCIM?

I did ask in one pub whether the beer festival had any effect and they said no. I do not know how true this is. In the same place I saw a far greater range of beers and I have changed my poison to a degree because of one very tasty and more healthy brew.A proper survey shoud be circulated to the pubs.
Gales Fan

Its great to see greater customer choice. What was the beer?

RIP http://www.savegales.org.uk/

WHITCHURCH BEER FESTIVAL
BEERS, BANGERS AND BLUES
WHITCHURCH SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB, LONGMEADOW

Well, the beers and ciders are all set up and the event looks as if it will be a roaring success with visitors coming from far and wide to join local Whitchurch residents in sampling local brews at this unique event.

With the aim of supporting local producers and reducing Beer Miles there are beers from every one of Hampshire's breweries, including some interesting surprises. Never before has such a range been available in Whitchurch.

Both joint winners of the 2007 Hampshire Beer of the Year Competition are present along with several other award winners. A number of brand new beers also feature, including an exciting Christmas ale brewed using local organic chestnuts.
Cider lovers are not forgotten with an unusual strawberry fruit cider, being presented by a leading Hampshire cidermaker. Only limited quantities of this rare product are available.

For the hungry there is a range of fine food, with a theme of the traditional sausage.

Entertainment is by top local blues guitarist Jon Walsh on Friday evening while blues band Out of the Blue play on Saturday. There is also an opportunity to cheer on the local Whitchurch football team on Saturday afternoon with the kick off right outside the Festival windows!

Tickets can be obtained from 01256 892650
Full details of the Festival are at:
http://www.whitchurchbeerfestival.org.uk/

Opening times are:
Friday:� � �7.00pm - 11pm
Saturday:� �11.30am - 3.00pm
Saturday:� �7.00pm - 11.30pm
Sunday:� � �12noon - 3.00pm

BEER FESTIVAL THANKS

Thank you to all who helped make the Whitchurch Beer Festival such a resounding success at the weekend. It was brilliant to see so many turn up and enjoy themselves, the beers, the music and even, dare I say it, the strawberry cider!
 
But it is those attending who really do make the event a success with groups of friends meeting up, families enjoying themselves, and even a stag night all sporting beards of various colours. It was also good to see publicans, brewers and even local councillors present - and thoroughly enjoying themselves.
There was not that much left in the casks at the end!

Every Hampshire brewery was on the bar and the winner in the Festival Competition was the superb Flowerpots Bitter from the small brewery at Cheriton. By supporting local brewers it reduces the need for excessive 'Beer Miles' associated with the mega-nationals.

There are already calls for the event to be enlarged, something that will be looked at over the coming months as next year's Festivals are planned. There are also some tentative plans for a brand new kind of event, so keep the eyes open! Thanks must also go to the Social Club and to the individuals and businesses that helped in arranging the various essentials needed for the event to take place. The whole event is run by volunteers in their own free time and with very limited resources. Without them it would be impossible to run.

Holding these events puts Whitchurch firmly on the map as somewhere to visit and enjoy, and how much more enjoyable it is with a pint of a fine traditional Hampshire brew in the hand, and in great company!

Everyone should now pop down their local and raise a glass to Whitchurch.

From the team at: Whitchurch Beer Festival (Beer, Bangers and Blues)

John,

Do you have any total numbers of visitors and how that compares with last year's "start up!" event?

I seem to remember when were discussing a beer festival some time ago, that you said one of the outputs would be money for local charities/groups.

As the event sounds like it was a success, what groups/charities are benefitting?

Phil

Hi Kot,

Well done with the beer festival !!

I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you go about advertising/publicising it ?
Was it down to previous successes and word-of-mouth or did you use the press/internet/fliers/posters etc ?

Cheers,
Rob.

Thank you for the support Rob.
Did you go? It was far beyond our expectations with nothing but positive feedback leaving us with the question of where do we go now - we are already being asked "When is the next one?" (although we have the Overton Festival on the Ides of March).

Wow. That question is a complex one, so forgive the long reply.
Sit down, take a deep breath...I hope some of it will be useful to your events.

There are many channels we use for publicity but the general principle is to know your market and to focus on it, then use the most appropriate media. It� helps to be committed to the project and its aims; be certain of the reliability of anyone you work with; and above all enjoy the planning. Never forget the fun element.

One aspect very often forgotten by local event organisers is that local advertising is just that - Local. It does not reach outside the immediate area so you are always aiming at a very limited audience.
People generally have a fixed amount of leisure 'spend' and share it amongst chosen activities. The trick is to try and get your activity to be the one they select. By focussing promotion locally the 'spend' simply shifts from one local event to another.

There are only 4000-ish people in Whitchurch, of which perhaps 2500 are adults. We have to ask, with regards our Festival, 1) how many drink beer, 2) how many like socialising, 3) how many may be attracted by a Beer Festival, and 4) How many of thesewill actually come out and are not at work or have other commitments! Realistically we are probably down to just a few hundred locals who may attend! Of these how many may hate 'Blues' music? And so it goes on! Such sums should be done by any event organiser. You should do it for your Twang proposals.
For Whitchurch when there are 'complaints' about people not supporting events you do need to look at how many people there really are who may be interested in a specific event/activity - the numbers really do end up very small.

As well as local posters etc, we try and attract people into Whitchurch from outside. We then hope that, as well as attending the event, they will experience the wide range of pubs in the Town (we provide info), hence supporting breweries and hopefully real ale trade.

We used all the media you mention, and others such as local radio. It helps to have some idea of how they work, especially, if like us, you don't have any spare finances! Simply putting posters up does not guarantee success, (and they get taken down). It all needs to be worked at. I have just heard there may be a new events website covering the area next year, so that too may be something to use as well as all the existing resources.

You also need to produce a realistic plan on anticipated attendance, costs, and your aims. That plan needs to include a media strategy.
Adjust as you go along, but don't compromise your final aims.

With the Beer Festival we suffered a major organisational setback early on but because we believed in our concept we persevered. Others then came on board to assist. In the end the setback worked to our advantage and the event, although smaller than originally planned, spoke for itself.

Remember that journalists and producers love others to provide them with information. It makes their job easier! Use this.
Adding in something 'extra' to media stories always helps. We developed the idea of Hampshire breweries and Beer Miles, plus getting the Champion Beers of Hampshire and unique brews such as the ale with organic chestnuts, and the strawberry cider. These are all items that can be drip-fed to the media for them to bite on.

As a non-profit making group, and run by just a small handful of volunteers, our resources are very limited, so we have to make best use of what we have available.

There are spin-off benefits too. As well as providing an enjoyable community event, we attract visitors to the town and encourage them to support local pubs, which all help raise the profle of the event. This then creates more interest and helps build a firm foundation for future events. Then word-of-mouth becomes be the best promotion.

I know I've rambled, but the event was just so enjoyable, and, well, you did ask ;-)

PS: Did you receive my e-mail about your exciting Twang proposals?

Best, etc,

kot
http://www.whitchurchbeerfestival.org.uk/
http://www.whitchurchpubguide.org.uk/

I was a little confused as to where the festival was. Eventually we found it but turned around straight away because it looked packed (from the angle we were aproaching) and a little intimidating.

Now if there was better signage and was in a marquee with ample space, maybe we would of stayed. I think I got the wrong impression of what it would be like.

Its amazing how many people don't know about the Social Club.
At the moment the Centre looks akin to an industrial unit and the main entrance is hidden away round the back and down a dark open corridor. I can fully understand your comment.
Its something the Club really needs to address and I believe they are. In the lobby are exciting plans for extensions and a proper publicly visable entrance. The sooner this is implemented the better.

However once inside, the venue is terrific with a good function room/public bar and a very comfortable lounge overlooking the indoor bowling green.

The function room where we had the beers reached its official capacity on the Friday night, but there was always the option of sitting in the adjacent pleasant lounge. If you hadn't visited the Club before you wouldn't have known this was there, so it is a shame you left.
I really suggest you pop down there sometime to see the excellent facilities.

The marquee idea is one that has been considered for outside the Club but it poses a few difficulties. Firstly there is security as real ale has to be 'put up' 24-48 hours prior to serving so that it settles. Secondly the use of glasses causes a problem as potential breakages on a grass field used for football is a Big No Go, and who likes real beer from plastic glasses  :(

There are some other options though, and some good suggestions have come forward if the event is to grow. Meanwhile if anyone would like to get involved or help in any way, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

kot

Yes we do. You are welcome to come along to our Social Meeting this evening where I hope all will be available to our members.
Give me a call on 892650.


You are right. We offered the opportunity for others to use the Festival to raise funds through raffles/tombolas but it wasn't taken up.
Others have used past CAMRA events to raise funds for Kidney Research, St Michael's Hospice, local scouts, etc.

We also contacted several local businesses to try and obtain prizes for a charity tombola but unfortunately the response was a Big Zero.
I'm sure you will agree that is a shame, but I suspect they are inundated with such requests in the run-up to Christmas.

Although not up to me, I hope we will continue to offer the use of events for raising funds for charities and others.
If you, or anyone else is interested in doing so please contact me.

kot

We did join the social club that evening anyway, it was something we was meaning to do. However, joining was a little strange....

The bar chap said fill out this form enclose �10 and stick it in the box outside. He said it may take about a month which confused me a little...a month for membership confirmation to be sent to us or come back in a month to see if its gone though? We left then not knowing if we could have a drink there that night or not, pretty confusing. I would feel a right berk to go back in a months time and be turned away because someone's not checking the mail.

Great. Glad you joined.
I was in the Club after reading your message.
Apparently it doesn't take very long for Membership to be processed - the 'box' gets emptied several times a week then the relevant Club official deals with it.

The advice is just visit the Club as if you were a member (although until you get your 'key' you may have to speak at the entry button to gain admittance). Just say you have applied and all will be well.
You collect your Membership Card and Key from the bar, not via post. When you next visit just ask if your Mmbership is ready. If its not it doesn't matter, just stay and enjoy the beer - Its not a problem at all!

We held a good meeting there last night, discussing the Festival, our forthcoming Community Pubs Week and our Beer Buses etc.
Beer was an excellent St Austell Tribute.
As well as ourselves there was a crib match, a bowls game, a group watching the telly, live footie outside, bingo in the function room and friends simply supping at the bar. The Club caters for all.

Afterwards we popped into the Harvest for a fine pint of Old Hookey accompanied by some local musicians strumming music in the bar!
Aren't Whitchurch pubs great ;D

kot

The information here would stop BT making money !!! and then we would all know