Cheers! Festival toasts its success

CHARITY tipple . . . (from the left) Saddleworth Parish Council chairman Councillor Bill Cullen and consort Enid Firth with Oldham Mayor and Mayoress, David and Jean Jones

OLDHAM’S Mayor and Mayoress were pulling pints behind the bar as Oldham’s Beer Festival successfully returned to a civic venue.

The three-day event was declared a success with all 20 casks ales and two ciders selling out and having to be restocked. Organisers are still calculating how much the event has raised for charity.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall was home to the beer festival until last year when Oldham Council asked for maximum rent for the hall hire, which would have left no money in the kitty to hand out to local charities.

A festival event was spread around a number of pubs in Oldham town centre instead.

But this year Saddleworth Parish Council offered Uppermill Civic Hall as a venue for the charity celebration of real ale, bottled beer and cider.

And Oldham Mayor David Jones, whose charities benefit from the proceeds, and Mayoress Jean Jones got behind the bar to serve thirsty punters.

The charity fund organised by the chairman of Saddleworth Parish Council also benefited as more than 400 people attended.

Tony Marlor, secretary of the Mayoral Appeal committee, said: “The event was very popular, most of the beers ran out on Saturday night with extra supplies being delivered on Sunday.”

The event was organised by the Mayor’s Appeal and Saddleworth Parish Council with local Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) member Mike Robinson, who ran Oldham Beer Festival for 23 years, helping out.

He said: “It was a much smaller venue but it worked well. It was very successful and a first for the Mayor and Mayoress to work behind the bar.”