Keighley Beer Festival 2002

Keighley Beer Festival 2002 is back again and will be held over the weekend 26th, 27^th and 28^th September at Victoria Hall, Victoria Park, Bradford Road, Keighley.

The hall is booked, Camra nationally have given their approval, we have a license and we are looking forward to an even better event than last year.

Over 80 cask ales will be available during the festival (at the start of each session we should have at least 50 cask beers available) and we will again be offering a selection of foreign bottled beers (from Belgium, Germany, America and Italy) and some traditional cider.

On Friday evening to entertain you we have booked 'Kinda Blue', who have performed a couple of times at Bradford Beer Festival and on Saturday evening we have the d'Urbevilles. Our thanks go to John Rowe at the Grove Inn in Leeds for organising this for us. The other sessions will be entertainment-free.

We will again be featuring a tombola and have a wider range of 'pub games' than last year, including favourites 'Shut the Box' and 'Bar Skittles' along with 'Ring the Bull' and a new discovery which has yet to be named, but which involves trying not to lose your marbles!

Food will be available to soak up the alcohol and for drivers we hope to offer free or very cheap soft drinks. The catering is being done by Lou and Graham Caunt from the Narrow Boat in Skipton. Lou assures us that a wide range of tasty food including veggie options will be available.

There will be a small stall selling t-shirts and the like. Many of our shapely members are already modelling these around Keighley and Skipton. We will also be launching the 3rd edition of 'Real Ale in the Craven Dales', a guide to all real ale pubs in the North Yorkshire part of our branch area. The guide is hot off the press, having only returned from the printers on 11th September.

Advanced tickets have been on sale but we are not sold out! You should have no problems getting in without a ticket on Thursday evening, Friday lunch-time/afternoon and Saturday. There will be some Friday evening tickets available on the door - to guarantee admission you are recommended to come early.

The festival will open the same hours as last year and admission charges have been held at last year's level. Opening hours and admission are as follows:

Camra members will receive a £1.00 reduction on the above (except when admission is free) on presentation of a valid membership card on the door. Members purchasing tickets in advance pay the full price and on arrival receive a £1.00 refund.

The admission charge includes a beer festival program. Glass hire will be in addition to the admission charge (refundable on return of the glass). Souvenir badges bearing the festival logo will again be available as these proved very popular last year - note that this year's logo and badges are a different colour so you really do need to have one! A small number of last year's badges will be available for anyone who has lost theirs or who came Saturday evening after we had run out.

To speed up entry to the hall, we will again be offering a £5 and a £10 package. The package consists of a £1 glass deposit, £1 for the souvenir badge and either £3 or £8 worth of beer tokens. You may keep the glass, if you wish, or refund it when you leave for the £1. We hope you will keep the badge, but if it is not to your taste, you can cash it back in at the Camra and products stall. As for the tokens, the idea is you buy beer with them, but any left when you leave can be either cashed in or donated to Manorlands, who are again our charity of the festival.

Well-behaved children will be welcome in the no-smoking room during the afternoon sessions as long as they are permanently under the control of their parents.