Faringdon Beer Society

News:

1st May - start designing labels for our beer! What we have so far.....

29th April - next event - Swan on the 10th of May.

26th April - Great night out in Oxford - well done to Mr DJ for the organisation!

13th April - Summer Events schedule posted - go here for details.

8th Dec - many thanks to Dave P for hosting the Beer Society has no talent....great evening and excellent acts - is this a new annual event?

12th Nov - Wantage beer festival

An excellent range of beers were tasted by a few of the FBS members!

5th Oct - Conkers Night

Faringdon's 5th World Conker Championship saw competitors from as far away as Africa and Great Coxwell swinging their nuts in this annual competition, with over 30 matches played on Thursday evening. Held amongst the local ales in the Portwell Cellar the draw for positions was eagerly anticipated as the rowdy crowd or beer society stalwarts and enthusiastic new faces jostled to see who would be playing former champions such as DJ 'Nut crusher' Janata and Dave 'Nutter' Porter.

Around twenty competitors kept their hydration and electrolyte levels optimised with Thames Tickler and Anvil ales from The Halfpenny and Old Forge breweries and local pork scratchings. Close competition was adjudicated by tough refereeing with no nonsense taken from the competitors and total commitment to the World Championship rules ensured.

The first exhibition final in the unlimited nut category set the tone for the evening with former champ Dave 'Nutter' Porter reduced to a fragment by Andrew 'That Old Chestnut' Robertson and then dispatched with a decisive blow.

The final of the runner up plate competition saw both nuts smash coincidentally with an enormous strike from Gavin 'forearms' Hopkins, thus both finalists were instantly declared official losers by the adjudication panel.

The cup competition saw a heroic battle of wills between Andrew 'That Old Chestnut' Robertson and Neil 'shiny conk' Osment, a trio of accurate strikes from Neil set the precedent for precision targeting but attack was truly the best form of defence as a smasher of a blow from Andrew disintegrated Neil's nut into smithereens in front of a crowd baying for destruction.

The golden conkerer trophy was lifted high by Andrew who will return next year to defend this solid victory of 5 consecutive wins.

Prize giving was followed by platters of pub nibbles and more ales, thanks to Mark 'Flight of the Conkered' Blatch and the Portwell staff.

Prizes Awarded:
1st Prize (Red wine): Unlimited Nut Category: Andrew 'That Old Chestnut' Robertson
Joint 2nd Prize (Chocolates and wine): Plate (runner up) category: Gavin 'forearms' Hopkins and DJ 'Nutcrusher' Janata
1st Prize (Champagne): Cup (overall) Category: Andrew 'That Old Chestnut' Robertson

Andrew has donated over £60 winnings to Westonbirt Arboretum, a charity dedicated to managing Westonbirt, The National Arboretum with one of the most important tree collections in the world. "Because trees are important"

Thanks to all that took part in this hugely enjoyable evening.

14th Sept - Radnor Arms news

The Radnor Arms, Coleshill, has been voted as CAMRA’s 2011 Central Southern Regional Pub of the Year by its members. Alan Watkins (owner) and landlady Gemma Court took over the pub in January 2010. This was soon followed by the opening of the on-site Old Forge Brewery in August 2010. Since then the pub has gone from strength to strength attracting clientele from near and far with its excellent range of beers, convivial atmosphere and fine food. It is the current White Horse Branch POTY, Oxfordshire POTY and now Regional POTY. The pub will now go forward into the next stage of the competition where the 16 regional winners fight it out to find CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year.

16th July - Great news: we raised £225 for the Folly Tower!

14th July - Up the Folly Tower - fantastic evening and many thanks to Gavin, Mark and Andrew for organising the event.

2nd place in the paper airplane competition!

The detailed preparation

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