Old Rope, New Rope

September has arrived, and busy, busy.
First it was the Mountain Rescue Beer festival.  46 beers, all on hand pump, and all good.

 This year we didn't spend any money on musicians, and Chris and Dawn did wonders on getting people to play for free.
Also we didn't spend any money on Glasses, as last year the "souvenir" glasses almost all came back for refunds.  So we used last years glasses. Some people complained, but this is a beer festival to raise money for the Charity, and not buying new glasses means £400 more to the charity!
Sunday teatime and the Beer Festival is over, 14 beers run out completely, and there wer only two beers that had more than a couple of pints at all.
All the money saving has been worthwhile, and it looks like we have raised over £3000 for mountain rescue, with still some sponsor money to come in!


Tuesday, I went to Union chapel to see Judy Collins.  Before the music started I had some Lasagne in the school hall which was absolutely superb.  Washed down with a nice glass of Meantime Ale from their unusual personalised bottle and glass.






Judy Collins was superb, although I found a lot of the "american" name dropping a bit tedious - I don't care how many times you have been invited to the Whitehouse - I bet you've never been invited round to Luke's for his Christmas Feast!









Next thing, I'm down to Burton on Trent for the Barrel Rolling Championships.  I'm not taking part, I do too much barrel rolling at work, but I am serving beer in the beer tent!

The Brewing museum is a great place to wander around, with a good show of all the historic vehicles from the brewerys' history (plus a huge horse!).

Just near the entrance, there is the Burton Union brewing system on display.  Beer is fermented in the wooden casks, and when the yeast forms above the beer, it is forced through pipes to be collected in the large channel above.

This all looks rather complicated to me, and I would hate to have to clean all that lot.

All sold out, I got back up to Rammy in time to see the New Rope String band.  Two Fiddlers and a squeeze box came on stage and it was laughing from the start.  Brilliant timing, and insane comedy, I was getting quite worried about sitting in the middle of the front row, but I managed to escape any major trauma.

Should you see the New Rope Sting Band near you, go and see them. You will laugh until it hurts!