There isn’t really one specific point in the year when the planning starts for the next beer festival. These days the next festival seems to start just as the previous one finishes.
A week or so after a festival the committee plus helpers hold a de-brief session, sometimes referred to as the ‘drinking up do’, for pretty obvious reasons. We’ll make a few notes about what worked well, what might not have gone great, and what we might consider improving next year.
Over the first half of the year the committee tend to worry more about admin than they do about the next festival. Making sure all the bills get paid, working out the final amount raised and deciding which charities and beneficiaries get what donations.
Around summer (ish) or just a little after the thoughts turn to the next festival, and then over the coming months the plans are put in place. Different committee members tend to look after the same areas of the festival year after year, be it the beer itself, liason with the hall, sponsor co-ordination, finance and accounting, music, food, staffing, publicity and the website or a host of other key activities. Problems get resolved one by one. Changes are discussed. Some will be fully implemented at the next festival, some will be tested, and some get put back for any one of a myriad of reasons.
As the winter nights start to draw in, the planning for the festival swings into top gear. The beer list(s) start to take shape around November, and then get refined over the coming weeks. Most of the orders, or provisional orders at least, are with the brewers and distributors by Christmas.
The January Committee Meeting, held in the conservatory at The Pendle Witch, Atherton.
And then January! The last committee meeting in January often feels like the calm before the storm. All the organising is done, it’s just a case of doing a final tick-back across everything and resolving any last minute issues that might have cropped up. Anything from potentially having to change the format of the programme to wondering if we have enough gaffer tape.
And then, when everything is sorted, the committee have one last pint (this year with our main sponsor – Mary at The Jolly Nailor, Atherton) and that’s it. The next step is the setup the Wednesday before the festival … but that’s a whole other blog …