Wednesday 20 February 2019

Brilliant Beer Festival - Thank You!

Well - WHAT an event that was! 

Ten minutes before Kick Off - all dressed up and ready for action
If public opinion is anything to go by, the Charity Beer Festival held on Friday and Saturday was a resounding success. Lots of positive feedback from lots of happy people has really warmed the hearts of the Dartmouth Rotary and Flavel Teams, who all worked so hard together to make this event as good as it could possibly be to help raise funds for two very worthy charities: Rowcroft Hospice and The Flavel itself.

Five minutes until the Bar Teams take over - and counting...

Dartmouth Rotary were delighted to be invited by The Flavel to organise this year's Beer Festival. 





Many people may not realise that this immensely important multi-function community venue - providing cinema, library, cafe, live screenings, live music, theatre and comedy events, room hire space for community groups and classes, and so much more - receives no public funding and relies entirely on fundraising, advertising and sponsorship to keep it running. 



What would we do without The Flavel and all its many benefits..? Not least the apparently fascinating raked seating which folds back at the touch of a button, which - bizarrely - seems to have been quite a topic of conversation over the whole weekend. Weird...






In the planning stages from last October, things all came together really well to make last weekend one to remember not just for the participants but the organisers.

The comments - ranging from 'Amazing beers - amazing weekend' to 'So well organised' to  'Hey - there are some of my favourite beers here!' to 'The best fun we've had in ages' to 'Everyone was so helpful and friendly' - and so many more it's almost embarrassing - have made us think that we'd better do it all over again next year! 



  
Dartmouth Rotary loved being involved and are keen to work closely with the Flavel Team again. 

Remember, you read it here first...



Right from the get-go on Friday at six the atmosphere was buzzing, with something for everyone, it seems. 


The kids had a whale of a time dancing to the music in front of the stage, while several babes in arms somehow managed to sleep through the whole thing!








  
Lots of happy people enjoyed sitting at the round tables eating, supping, chatting and comparing tasting notes, or simply standing with friends whilst sampling their beverage of choice and listening to the eclectic mix of live music on offer throughout the day. 


Bar Area - with just a glimpse of some of the wonderful prizes
A respectful thank you to the elegant Lady Mayoress, Mrs Di Lyon, for her raffle-ticket- drawing skills - not forgetting of course grateful thanks to all the people who so generously donated the plethora of prizes for the raffle which all helped to raise funds in a fun way. 


Personally, I was devastated not to be able to walk away with a pack of golf balls, but you can't win 'em all, I guess. (No offence intended to the kind golf ball donator! Golf just isn't my thing...)



Tallulah and the Tramps - and Radius 7 menu!
Big thanks to Radius 7 who worked their socks off serving fab food all day long.
I can testify that the pulled pork baps, the beef cheeks in ale and the ham hock Scotch egg choices were all superb. 
Hope they've had a chance to get their breath back today...



Somehow they even managed to freshly cook and serve twelve various hot meals for the Loose Cannons band members before their set at 8.30, whilst still serving customers as well - respect!




On the subject of which - all the music throughout the Festival was very much enjoyed...


 

Mick and Lucy
There were acoustic sets from the Alfi Romeo Duo followed by some wonderful arrangements by the Mick and Lucy Duo. 

We enjoyed some cool jazz from J2Jazz and some relaxing acoustic guitar from Joe Dostal.

 Then it was time for some 'Soul, Jazz, Funk 'n' Blues' from the versatile and ever-popular Tramps with the gorgeously dulcet tones of Tallulah (nice boots, Tallulah!). 




The Loose Cannons


The evening's music culminated with a fantastic performance from the brilliant twelve-piece band the Loose Cannons, who really knew how to create a finale.  





Oh, how we danced! Thanks so much to all the bands and musicians - you were great!




So now, it's all over bar the counting... 

Thanks to all you splendid people who came along and helped to make this event such an enjoyable success - and had fun while you helped raise funds. 

If you've read this and discovered what you were missing, make sure you look out for the date for the Beer Festival in early 2020, when you too can join in the fun!

 Cheers to that... See you next year??




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