Yearly archives: 2017

Charity to take off at beer festival

 in Festival Charity / Festival News / Press Releases

16143461_1351451794894343_7989543817007608465_oThe biggest beer and cider festival in the North has announced North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) as its charity partner for the next two years.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival organisers were on a mission to find a new partner and hovered over 11 applications before landing on NWAA. They were impressed by the service’s assistance saving lives and the charity’s need to raise £9 every minute helicopters are in the air.

The fleet of three helicopters operate from City (Barton, Manchester) and Blackpool airports covering the North West 365 days a year. The service is not part of the NHS or publicly-funded emergency services and needs to attract funding to keep airborne.

The charity will be circling the huge floorspace of Manchester Central, a venue more used to locomotives than helicopters, to scoop up loose change from festivalgoers as well as a guaranteed income from a share of programme sales.  And it promises some entertaining diversions for drinkers from its promotional stand. (more…)

Bigger, better – and back next year

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Beer festival organisers announce a return to Manchester Central in 2018

Beer lovers in Manchester kept their part of a promise to make the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival bigger and better than before.

Organised by the combined expertise of the nine Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), drinkers poured in to the city centre venue last month to enjoy the 756 beers and ciders served at 22 bars. They despatched a staggering 62,000 pints at the three day festival, a rate of almost 27 pints a minute!

Now the biggest event of its kind in the North, the festival is a labour of love for the 343 volunteers, the majority of whom were drawn from local CAMRA branches. They built, served and took down the huge event over eight days, with a time lapse video posted on YouTube proving popular.

The annual event moved to Manchester Central last year, and organisers have been delighted by the response from beer fans. Organiser Graham Donning said: “Manchester Central is the perfect venue for our festival. It’s right in the heart of the city, itself a booming centre of brewing excellence. We’ve had great support from the venue team, who I know have been stunned by the professionalism of our volunteers. And most importantly, our customers love coming here and trying so many excellent brews.

“So we’re delighted to announce we will be back at Manchester Central from Thursday 25th to Saturday 27th January 2018.” (more…)