February 2023 was the 32nd Bent and Bongs Beer Bash.
Back then the festival had raised £486,922 over those previous 32 years.
We were all curious how 2023 would turn out. It was the first year back since the missing two years due to Covid. Would everyone still want to turn out on a winter’s night for the Bent and Bongs? Would we end up making any money to donate to local charities? Would the festival even have the same feel about it? Two years off seemed like a lifetime.
We shouldn’t have worried.
You came, you saw, you drank.
And the good news was that after we paid all the bills and settled all the accounts this gave us a total of £7,954 to give away to charity.
Which means that the total raised going into the 2024 beer bash is £494,876.
If we can raise the same again in 2024 this will be one heck of a milestone. It will take us passed the magic half million.
If you are wondering where all this money goes, the group of trustees who manage the festival try their hardest to route it all back into the local community. To give some examples this money has:
- Helped support the Proms in the Park event
- Supported a local brass band
- Bought a portable de-fib unit
- Supported Atherton food bank and helped them buy a new van
- Paid for a venue and coffee and biscuits to help dementia sufferers
- Helped with the costs of the Atherton Carnival
- Supported the School Dinners initiative set up by the Atherton Business Partnership
- Bought kits for local kids’ football and rugby teams and helped fix or replace their clubhouses
- Helped with the costs of the Atherton nativity parade
- Sent so many scouts to so many different places we’ve lost track of them (the places, not the scouts)
… and those are just some of the things that spring to mind from the last couple of years.
If you are a local charity and you need some help, catch one of the trustees at the next beer festival; or get in touch and we can take it from there.
And if you are one of the wonderful amazing people who come to the event … (almost) half a million Thank You’s from everyone you have helped to help over the years.