MIKE DIXON
ORGANISES
TOWN
BEERFEST

   The Town Hall played host to the Town's first Beer Festival which offered visitors a range of local ales to sample. The event had been organised by Councillor Mike Dixon (above left) to help raise funds for the town's recreation ground. As the hall began filling up Mike said: "This is the first beer festival the town has had and it has taken about three or four months to organise. We have got more than 870 pints that need drinking. We decided to try it because different organisations have held beer festivals to raise money and we wanted to see for ourselves if it worked. If today is a success we may make it an annual event. Visitors could choose to sup 12 different beers which had been brewed locally. Among the beers were some from Hook Norton Brewery. Chipping Norton Town Mayor Gina Burrows (above right) was among those enjoying the beer festival and she paid tribute to Mike Dixon for organising the event. She said: "I think this is a real innovation that the town council is doing to raise money for one of its projects and I give credit to Mike for putting himself out to do it. People are having fun and enjoying some quality beer while helping to raise money."  The event kicked off at noon and finished at 11pm. The warm weather helped to draw a wide audience ranging from people who lived in the town to those from the surrounding villages. Paul Worth of North Oxfordshire CAMRA (below left) had travelled from his home in Enstone to sample the day's delights. He said: "I know Mike and have come to support him. I think there are about three beers here I haven't tried before. I know Hooky beer is wonderful but I think Cotswold Lion is the one to go for. I'm going to try the Honey Stout next" The bar was managed by Peter Spendlove (picture below right) The event attracted 118 drinkers and Mike thinks around 1500 in total was raised. Congratulations to everyone involved!

  One blogger described the festival :The day of April 28th dawned bright and sunny, perfect weather for my first foray into an Oxfordshire beer festival. However, the reality of the event was somewhat different to what I had expected. Admittedly, we arrived rather early, at about 2 pm. The festival was held in the Chipping Norton town hall, and for the first few hours I was the youngest guy there by about 10 years. The town hall had about 30 - 40 people in it for most of the afternoon, and they were nerdy bearded bespectacled anorak trainspotting hippie types. Only at about 4:30 pm did other people arrive in jeans and trainers who looked under 30. Having said that it was good value and I got absolutely hammered on a North Costwold Pale Ale that was 10% ABV!!! I also got a sneak preview of a new Wychwood ale (the makers of Hobgoblin) called 'Owzat' which certainly tasted promising. Although ironically, the best beer on the say was a Lager brewed by the Cotswold company. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but Nat was getting a bit fed up with pushing Lucas around the streets of Chipping Norton. Chipping Norton is a rather pretty traditional Cotswold stone village with good views of the surrounding hills.
http://a-convict-in-banbury.blogspot.com/2007/05/chipping-norton-beer-festival.html