May 2009 - Food and Drink Festival

In all honesty, there was an degree of anxiousness on the lead up to the Food and Drink Festival weekend, mainly arising out of the fact that we had absolutely no idea how many people would turn up – the quandary of first-time village fetes everywhere, of course, but that gave not a crumb of solace.

We had circulated some 20,000 flyers, Neil had done a couple of ‘shout outs’ on the local radio, we’d taken a few small ads in the local press, but in reality, it was the first time we had done such a thing and we had no way of knowing whether the local population would respond.

A couple of the pub locals had intimated that people around and about were talking about it and that there was a general buzz going on, but did that mean 1,000 would turn up, or 4,000?

Some of the local colour	More like 4,000

So... how many kilos of minced beef would we need for the BBQ? How many lemons for the fresh lemonade stall? How many staff? In the end, we licked our finger, stuck it in the air, and reckoned we might have 3,000 people through the doors, based on no evidence whatsoever. There again, if 3,000 people turned up, how many of them would want fresh lemonade? It was pretty much largely guesswork based on a hunch, informed by a stab in the dark.

The party got going early

The same issues, of course, would have been faced by each of the stallholders. The bread people turned up with a small hill of bread, and our chefs at the Combermere Arms had spent three days hand-raising 450 pies for the pie stall, which we thought was wildly ambitious.

A small hill of bread	Lindsey, champion pie lady

On top of the crazy uncertainty, of course, was the spectre of rain, and the car park (aka farmer’s field) becoming a quagmire.

But Zeus, the Greek God of the Sky and all its phenomena, smiled kindly on the pub, and the sun blazed away for each of the three days of the event, enticing local residents and visitors from their own gardens and BBQs by their thousands.

A few locals popped round for a drink on the lawn

There was something for everyone:

22 stalls featuring local artisan food producers

45 different cask ales to taste: all the beers were sold out apart from a couple of the dark stouts

50 different wines by the glass, and a wine tasting room which was an oasis of calm

The front line inthe war zone: a crazily busy BBQ ran throughout the weekend

The main day, Saturday, was filled with foodie activities, with seven different wine tastings, cheese tastings, demonstrations of fish filleting, cookery, bread making, chocolate making, cheese making and butchery, but there was a host of other fascinating and interesting activites to keep everyone happy.

How to turn a plaice into a glove puppet

Eager anticipation

Three enormous steam engines provided interest for the engineers and nostalgics: believe it or not, this one is insured for something like £700,000

There was a range of fun things to do for families - donkey rides, a bouncy castle, ballon modelling, face painting

Morris Men added colour to the event

Some of the statistics from the weekend boggle the mind: the BBQ got through over 100 kgs of minced beef in burgers alone, and served over 1,500 meals, while the Pimm's stall got through over 50 bottles of Pimm's. The little pie stall sold every last one of its 450 pies, and the fresh lemonade stand got through 500 lemons.

Short work for a thirsty mob

The 4,500 pints of cask ale poured over the weekend bore witness to the wonderful weather and the enthusiasm of the thirsty hoards of beer enthusiasts.

Graham delighted in creeping up behind people and giving them the fright of their lives

"It was really fantastic the way everyone got behind the event”, said landlord Neil, ”It completely restores one’s faith in human nature. The weekend was in aid of the North West Air Ambulance and the East Cheshire hospice, and we asked stall holders to give a percentage of their take to the charities, but a number of them gave their entire takings from the day. The farmer next door let us use the field for car parking, and Titanic brewery loaned us the enormous amount of beer equipment needed to rack 45 different beers, completely free of charge. Even the Morris Men only required the odd beer or two.”

The Morris Men danced with considerable vigour, which left them somewhat dry in the mouth on such a hot day.

“Countless numbers of people gave up their time for free to support the weekend: the local Scouts controlled the car parks, the steam engines asked for no contribution to their costs, staff gave up their tips, and the local visitors dug deep in their pockets to contribute to the collection boxes and buy raffle tickets.

"It was so busy that the wine merchants who had given up their time to conduct tutored wine tastings, ended up pitching in behind the bar to help out.

At the bars, throughout the weekend people asked us to put their change in the collection buckets, and all in all, together with our own contribution, we anticipate being able to pass on north of £8,000 to the two charities, so it was all worth it. I’d really like to thank everybody, from the staff, the participants and all the visitors, for their efforts and their generosity.”

However busy it was, there were still lovely quiet corners to enjoy a picnic