Magna rustles up cash!
By: JimOldfield
October 21st, 2012
October 21 2012
It seems drinking is good for health, if you live in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where real ale lovers sank so many pints at this year’s Magna beer festival, they raised enough surplus cash to re-write their own record books and give £40,000 to local health charities.
Now organisers of the annual Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival plan to make next year’s bonanza at the vast MAGNA centre fit for the Magnificent Seven, as they announce a Wild West theme for the 2013 incarnation of the hugely popular event.
Back in March, over 11,000 revellers from across the country made a bee-line for the independent extravaganza – said to be the largest entirely hand-pulled festival in the UK – in the cavernous former steel-works turned science museum, to try 236 real ales, which this year came specially-selected from steel-producing areas of the UK.
In four days, they drank the bars dry, and managed to raise a staggering £40,000 surplus, which organisers have now split equally between Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, Rotherham Hospice, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and the Magna educational trust.
And there was still cash to spare to invest in a whole new set of hand-pumps and bar equipment ready for next year.
Now the dedicated band of organisers have got back in the saddle for the 21st annual event, with a wild west theme titled “Baa’sil Goes West”.
To get themselves in the mood for the four months of hard-graft until the doors open on February 27, the team headed out to nearby Howarth Lodge Livery Centre to give a sneak preview of the plans – and give Hettie the horse a sneaky half!
Festival organiser Stephen Burns said: “The Rotherham Real Ale and Music festival is not only a chance for people to enjoy real ale and live music, but it’s a genuine community event that helps to put the town on the map. Over the year’s we’ve developed a terrific following, and see regular visitors to the festival travel the length and breadth of the country to support the popular event”.
The festival has long been regarded as the biggest festival of its kind in the north of England, but next year, the team want better this years record-breaking efforts, where over 90,000 half pints were served from bars which stretched for over a quarter of a mile.
Stephen added: “Of course, we don’t just want to rest on our laurels and we’ve set ourselves a very difficult challenge of trying to further build on the success of the event next year. We are already starting the search for both volunteers and sponsors for next year’s festival, and would urge anyone that thinks they can help to come forward as soon as possible.”
The festival began in 1992 as a fundraiser organised by the PTA at the town’s Oakwood Comprehensive School and has continued to grow year on year.
In 2011, the festival move to larger premises at Magna to provide a safer space for the increasing numbers of visitors to the event.
Today, it continues to be a volunteer-led organisation enabling money raised to support local good causes.
To find out more about sponsorship opportunities available at “Baa’sil Goes West” – the 2013 Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, visit the link below.
Hand-Pumped link:
Magna Real Ale Festival
