News:
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.
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2nd place in the paper airplane competition!
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The detailed preparation
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9th of June - great night in the Swan with bar food and good beer and not to mention the free beer glass! Well done to Andrew for organising the event.
Check out the pickled onions and eggs!
8th May - following a great night planning (we drank the Folly dry?) and excellent work from GH - we now have a summer events timetable....go here to review.
26th April - The Radnor Arms, Coleshill has deservedly been voted White Horse CAMRA's 2011 pub of the year. As readers will know, this cosy National Trust-owned free-house installed its own Old Forge micro-brewery last year, and its "Hammer and Tongs" was the 2nd most popular beer at the Wantage Beer festival in November. The award will be presented at 4PM on Sunday 8th May, and you are all most welcome to join us for the celebrations.
Joint runners-up for 2011 are last year's winner, the Royal Oak in Wantage, and runner up, the North Star in Steventon. Many congratulations to all three pubs, spanning as they do the whole of the White Horse region.
27th Jan - Burns night: relaxing evening enjoying good company, haggis and beer! Well done to Portwell for hosting the excellent food and organising our town piper! More pics here.
13th Jan - Wassailing night - many thanks to Andy H for hosting at great evening! We sung to the trees, dipped toast in cider and er drank cider....more pics here
23rd Dec - excellent pre-Xmas drink with great music from the Lucky Generals and friends! Well done to the Portwell for hosting a great event. Check out the music on YouTube here.
28th Oct - Fantastic night in the Portwell for the annual conkers match. Well done to DJ, GH and DP for the organisation and to DP for winning! Also well done to MH for winning the plate...great time was had by all.
More pictures here
27th Sept - The Campaign for Real Ale said earlier this month that microbreweries are booming in the rcession, with 78 opening in the last year bringing the total in the UK to 767. Read more here.
16th Sept - Fascinating evening hearing about the British Resistance during WW2 at Coleshill. Many thanks to Andy for organising a great event. More pics here.
More info on the Coleshill website here.
19th Aug - Great night at the Radnor Arms / Old Forge Brewery trying out there new brew...more pics here
18th Aug - The Award winning Waen Brewery in Powys has been selected to supply beer to the Green Man Festival this year. More here.
8th of July - great trip up the Folly Tower and many thanks to Eddie for the talk also well done to Mark and Gavin for organising the event....more pics here
10th June - excellent evening in Devizes looking round the Wadworth brewery...many thanks to Steve for organising the event, Frank for driving and Dave for the use of his mini bus. More pics here.
6th May - Curry election night special in the Portwell was a great success!
22nd April - great cycle out to the Radnor Arms - good beer and reasonable pub food.
6th March - Beer Soc mentioned in the Folly paper!
5th Feb - Portwell jumps into second place in the Faringdon Pub Survey! see results here.
21st Jan - Part 2 of the Faringdon pub survey completed!
Overall across seven pubs in Faringdon the Folly came out on top with the Red Lion in close second place.
The Welligton just made it into 3rd place and is recently under new management....one to watch?
For detailed results go here for part 1 and here for part 2
8th Jan - CAMRA takes Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to Tribunal - more here
7th Jan - Great night in the Folly playing darts! Minutes here
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