Well, it’s that time of year again.  Christmas seems like a distant memory, Tryanuary has been and gone (hopefully trampling the stinking carcass of Dryanuary underfoot as it goes!) and beer festival planning starts. October might seem a long way off but organising a successful festival takes a lot of time and effort. As always it starts with appointing a committee. The first meeting sorted out most positions but there are still some vacancies for anyone willing to get more involved. The main requirement is enthusiasm, but we’ll try our best to find positions that suit whatever skills you can bring. A budget has been set and sent to head office for approval, which should be a formality following the success of last year’s festival. We are also needing more volunteers. Last year we had 137 volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure that over 5,000 visitors enjoyed themselves drinking nearly 19,000 pints of beer or cider without any major problems. We are hoping to increase visitor numbers and extend the bars this year, which will of course need more bar staff. We are also wanting to increase the numbers of people working the various stands such as tokens, admissions, membership, games etc. And it goes without saying that we will need more people to help with build-up and take down. The build-up is particularly satisfying as you get to see the bars and stalls being assembled, and everyone involved feels a real sense of pride at what they achieve ready for the opening day. Over 200 casks will need positioning on 40 metres of stillage, fitted with all the necessary cooling equipment, and then tapped and vented ready for serving. Around 20 bars need to be assembled, bolted together and beer engines fitted. Membership tables, token tables and games tables all need setting up in position, and the correct banners erected. Token sets need readying for that initial rush of visitors. All our existing glasses need washing and bringing round to the entrance desks. And of course it all needs doing in reverse once the festival is over. Days are split into smaller sessions so you don’t need to work a full day and you can even do an evening spot without needing to take a day off work. Volunteers receive a festival tee shirt, free festival glass and beer tokens to spend at the bars. More importantly you’ll have the satisfaction of being part of a team and helping to make this year’s festival even more successful than last year. So if you feel you’d like to get involved, or would like to have a chat with one of us about it, you can contact us at festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. Alternatively why not come to one of the planning meetings held the third Tuesday of each month as detailed in Beer Matters diary, or a CAMRA branch meeting, or even one of the Pub Of The Month presentations where you’ll be able to find one or more of the planning committee who will be happy to discuss things in detail. We look forward to seeing you

Steel City Beer Festival returns to Kelham Island After a successful switch last year from Ponds Forge to Kelham Island, the 41st Steel City Beer Festival returns to Sheffield’s “Valley of Beer”. Taking place within the Kelham Island Museum on Alma Street over 4 days from Wed 21st to Sat 24th of October the festival will be even bigger than last year, and will be officially opened by guest of honour, Sheffield ‘s Master Cutler, David Grey MBE. The festival’s nominated charity this year is the Master Cutler’s Challenge. Real Ale fans from all over Yorkshire and even further afield will arrive to sample the best the UK brewing scene has to offer. Expect to see over 200 different beers and around 30 ciders and perries from some of the countries finest breweries and cider makers.  A mix of old favourites and new or rare speciality beers from around the UK will be available on cask in 3 separate bars within the museum, with drinking and seating areas split across 2 levels. All 18 of Sheffield’s breweries will be represented and a number of unique beers are being brewed specially for the festival. Once again live music will be featured on 3 of the evenings. Thursday night sees the Leeds City Stompers playing their brand of retro blues, Friday night is local blues-rock legends Downtown Roots, and Saturday features Loxley Silver Brass Band in the afternoon, and an evening set from the high energy Rock ‘n’ Rollaz. As an interesting twist on the festival entertainment, close-up magician Ben Z will be mingling with visitors on Friday and Saturday and amazing them with his sleights of hands.  Festival Entertainment Officer Bob Swift said “I am delighted to have booked some of the best acts in the region for this year’s festival who will be appearing on a large stage with first class professional sound and lighting systems. Live music is a big part of the local real ale scene and the festival will offer a very high standard of entertainment”. More stalls are planned for this year. The usual wide selection of food stalls will be there as well as a dedicated bottle bar so beer fans will be able to take home some of their new found delights.  Traditional pubs games are on offer at one of the stalls, including cheese skittles, shove halfpenny and bar billiards (Wednesday only)  The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) will also have a stall selling a variety of books on beer, pubs and brewing. Further information can be obtained by visiting the website sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival.  Anyone wishing to volunteer to help during the festival, or take up one of the few remaining sponsorship opportunities, can also find relevant information on the website.

This year is the 41st beer festival Sheffield & District Campaign for Real Ale has run under the Steel City banner although only the second year at Kelham Island Industrial Musuem – the change of venue last year proved a very popular move. This year will be a very similar event to last year, not wanting to spoil what everyone loved, but there will be some tweaks to improve it based on feedback from both staff and customers. If you don’t know where the museum is, you need to be on Alma Street in the Kelham Island District about where the Fat Cat pub , Kelham Island Brewery, Craft & Dough pizza restaurant and Urban Quarter burger restaurant is located. This is a short walk from bus stops on Nursery Street (Harlequin pub – buses 47/48/53/87), bus stops on Gibralter Street (Shakespeare’s pub – buses 57/79/79A/81/82/84/85) and the tram stop at Shalesmoor (Blue/Yellow routes). There is a long driveway from here to the museum between the river and the apartment blocks. When you arrive at the admission gate you need to pay your admission fee, obtaining your wrist band (if you are a CAMRA member claiming discount entry please have your membership card ready to show) and also pay the glass deposit. We will have a choice of pint or half pint glasses (both will also have a third pint line if you want to drink in smaller  taster size measures). The glasses are branded with this years festival logo along with the sponsors logo. You can return the glass when you leave the festival to get your deposit back or keep the glass as a souvenir of your visit! Once in you need to buy beer tokens to spend at the bars. There are a number of stalls selling them around the festival. Our bar staff as a result do not handle cash which speeds up service and improves security for us. The merchandise, games and food stalls all take cash however. We will have around 150 different real ales available to try this year. Once again the main beer list has been put together by our branch Chairman Andy Cullen featuring a showcase of beers brewed in or near Sheffield along with some interesting, new and rare beers from further afield and of course some old favourites. Andy is being assisted in sourcing some of the beers by our friends at Blue Bee, Dave from Steel City Brewing and Tom at the Beer Engine. Tom will be organising a pallet load of beers from London breweries which will be split between the pub and the festival. Meanwhile our Cider bar managers Sarah & Hazel have been busy sourcing a selection of cider and perry – expect a range of around 20-30 to choose from, brought from across the UK although we will still as ever have the locally produced Woodthorpe Hall cider too. There are a number of different areas in the festival: UPPER HALL Access via the door on the right when you arrive on site then over the footbridge, here you will find a long beer bar and the main cider bar, the traders serving cold food and the live music stage. Expect a great atmosphere when there is a band on! The Upper Hall is also home to the merchandise stand and Tombola. VICTORIAN COURTYARD An atmospheric outdoor area, this links all the other areas and is also home to the street food stalls serving hot food. You will also find the smoking area and toilet facilities alongside the courtyard. MILLOWNERS ARMS Fronting on to the corner of the Victorian Courtyard, this is a recreation of a traditional local pub with seating and bar where our staff will assume the role of the pub landlord and serve from a variety of beers on handpump. This area of the festival will always offer a comfortable, quiet and relaxing atmosphere. The Millowners Arms is also home to displays of items from local brewery history. MARQUEE A large beer bar and a cider bar is in the marquee along with plenty of seating. The marquee is also home to the traditional pub games and the CAMRA membership stand. ENGINE ROOM This is a new area added to the festival this year, home to the steam powered River Don Beam Engine, one of the working exhibits the museum is famed for. We are hoping this will be fired up for a demonstration on Friday afternoon, the rest of the time this room will provide additional indoor space for drinkers, which I’m sure will be much appreciated if we aren’t as lucky with the weather as last year!

Fancying joining the volunteer team of organisers, managers and staff that make our beer & cider festival happen? The staffing form is now live on our website at sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival, please fill this in with your details and the hours you wish to work. Our staffing officer will then register you and allocate you a job and reserve you a staff t-shirt (note only a limited stock of t-shirts have been provided by our sponsors so these are first come first served). Volunteers also get a pack of complimentary beer tokens and of course free admission! There are a variety of roles at the festival, the most obvious being serving beer and cider at the bar but we also need staff at the entrance dealing with admissions, glasses, programmes and customer service; staff on the various stalls including merchandise, membership, beer tokens and games; staff in the office for various admin duties and of course members of the cellar team looking after the beer behind the scenes! We also really need volunteers to help on the site team setting everything up in the days before we open and taking everything down on the Sunday – we move in to an empty site on the Monday and build all the bars etc and have to leave an empty site with everything back in storage on the Sunday! We are always very short of helpers taking down and packing away on the Sunday – although it should be noted a change this year is the festival is closing a little earlier on Saturday where some of the takedown jobs will begin before the staff social – however on Sunday there will still be plenty to do including van runs to our storage location and as there will be no beer to drink we will provide volunteers with food – sandwiches at lunch time and a hot meal in the evening after work is complete. Working a beer festival is generally enjoyed by all – work is involved of course – however its is also fun and if you have a passion for good beer or cider then a successful event all feels worthwhile!

Sponsorship A great way to support the beer festival and local charities is though sponsorship, why not sponsor a barrel of beer? Fancy a works do at this year’s festival, why not promote your business at the same time? Group of friends who fancy doing something different on a night out? Something to celebrate? You can sponsor a barrel for just £125 and your name will appear on the beer label behind the bar, plus your name will be included in the programme and on the website, sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival.  We will provide you with 6 complimentary tickets to the festival and a free pint to get you started. £25 of the sponsorship goes to the festival charity, which again this year will be the Master Cutlers Challenge. We can also discuss any corporate hospitality requirements you may have.  For more information please contact festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. We would like to thank the following companies for generously supporting the beer festival:

• Toolmakers Brewery
• Fuggle Bunny Brewery
• Raw Brewery
• Welbeck Abbey Brewery
• The Hop/Ossett Brewery
• Thornbridge Brewery
• Sheffield Brewery
• Gardeners Rest, Neepsend
• Easton Safety Engineering Ltd
• Tyzack Machine Knives
• Fat Cat, Kelham Island
• Bradfield Brewery
• Kelham Island Brewery
• The Forest, Neepsend
• Blue Bee Brewery
• Stancil Brewery
• Dyson Signs and Graphics

Entertainment As well as great beer and cider, we also have some great entertainment planned for the course of the week. However for those who like to enjoy their beer in peace Wednesday night is for you with as it is quiet night with no entertainment. The band for Thursday is still to be confirmed but I am sure they will be great. On Friday night we have the Sheffield’s Number 1 Soul band the Soulfaces, an 8 piece including a 3 piece horn section. I’m sure they will get you up to dance the night away. For those with a more traditional taste for music we have Loxley Silver Band returning for the second year after delighting the crowds last year. They will entertaining on Saturday afternoon performing a collection of traditional marches, show tunes and some more modern hits they are bound to go down a storm!  For those who like to do a bit of thinking with your beer then Saturday afternoon sees the return of our charity pub quiz. No cheating with smart phones though! Bringing the festival to a raucous close on Saturday night is Do$ch bringing you “Maximum” high energy British rhythm and blues. On Friday and Saturday night we will also be having local bands on the stage in the marquee. Festival Beers In early September the branch brewed to beers to celebrate the 40^th Anniversary Steel City Beer and Cider Festival. Early on a Saturday morning several members of the branch arrived at Blue Bee brewery to help owner Andy and brewer Josh brew a festival special. Rubee is a 5% nearly ruby coloured IPA. On the following Tuesday several more members of the branch helped brewer Tim at Sheffield Brewery brew Ruby, Ruby, Ruby with apologies to the Kaiser Chiefs, a 4.8% malty beer. Both beers will be coming to a bar near you soon, so look out for and see how good a collection of beer and cider drinkers can brew beer!  Volunteering   Apart from the vast selection of incredible ales and cider from all over the world on offer, it is the mingling of people from all walks of life, united for a few days simply to enjoy themselves, which makes me love Sheffield Beer Festival so much. They say a pub is only as good as the landlord and it’s true, it’s the people who both run and attend the Sheffield Beer Festival which make it so special. When I work on the cider bar my favourite thing to do is to guess which cider a certain punter will like. When I get it right, it makes my shift, the punter is delighted and many of them say they’ve discovered a newfound love of cider. Again, it’s the people who make the festival. It was my husband, amateur cider-maker Brian Trevelyan, who first introduced me to beer festivals thirteen years ago when we met. In only just over a decade, how they’ve changed. Beer festivals really did used to be the preserve of real life “Real Ale Twats”, the popular comic strip from Viz, with which many of you will be familiar. Blokes with beards and beer-bellies, propping up the bar, guffawing and knocking back their pints with barely a woman in sight. A few years ago, I noticed that the demographic was changing at every beer festival I attended. Suddenly there were more women. There were students, not a few of them but loads of them, in groups of males and female friends, all drinking sensibly with no trouble caused. Hipsters started to appear with a different type of beard, ones they’d only just sprouted to ride on the beard new-wave. And this new clientele spread from its beer festival spawning ground out into the world where a couple of years back there was a sudden explosion of “craft ale” pubs and “brew houses”, an explosion which led to real ale suddenly being hip and fashionable. But it started at beer festivals. Now, beer festivals are a must-visit for any discerning hipster, the likes of which intermingle with the trad beer festival attendee, creating a wonderfully harmonious and inclusive atmosphere of real ale (and real cider) aficionados from every demographic, whether young, old, male, female, trad- bearded or hipster-bearded. As a woman, I particularly like the fact that every year there are more and more women attending. Sheffield Beer Festival is honestly somewhere I’d feel comfortable attending on my own. And I can’t say that about many High Street bars!  Jude Calvert-Tomlinson

Sponsor a barrel! Fancy a works do at this year’s festival, why not promote your business at the same time? Group of friends who fancy doing something different on a night out? Something to celebrate? You can sponsor a barrel for just £100 and your name will appear on the beer label behind the bar, plus your name will be included in the programme and on the website, sheffield.camra.org.uk/festival.  We will provide you with 6 complimentary tickets to the festival and a free pint to get you started. We can also discuss any corporate hospitality requirements you may have. For more information please contact festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk.

WORKING AT A BEER FESTIVAL – by Steve Cook

 Ever wondered what it is like helping out at a Beer Festival? I did for a number of years. It was one of the reasons I joined Camra back in 2000. I had worked in pubs and bars for 17 years, during which time I looked after a number of pubs whilst the manger went on leave. It was hard work but I got a buzz out of it.

I volunteered my services for the 2000 Beer Festival at the Students Union in Pond Street, (is it still there?). How different it was to what I was used to. There were no keg beers, lagers and spirits. There was no asking the customer if they wanted ice and lemon in their G & T, no asking if they wanted crisps or nuts they didn’t want but the pubco wanted them to buy. For various reasons it wasn’t until 2012 I worked the festival again, doing a few sessions on the bar and helping with the breakdown. 2013 I decided to go the full hog and work the whole week, setting up, working the bar and breaking down. And what a week it was. I put more hours in that week than I did in a normal week at my everyday job, (all for the love of real ale and Camra). Being a novice at the set up, I saw how much was involved to get the venue ready. I have to smile at the fact we were in a sports hall. There were many experienced and knowledgeable heads orchestrating without being demanding. Racking went up, the bars went up, and the beers went on the racking. After 2½ days of set up the festival opened. I couldn’t believe how many people turned up for the midday opening. In the blink of an eye I went from being festival constructor to barman. As the afternoon passed, the adrenaline kicked in and the barman in me came out. I was in my element, giving quality service and having banter with those who came in. The bar staff were a mixture of old heads and those new to bar work. The newbies soon learnt the ropes with help at hand from the experienced. Two of the newbies enjoyed their time so much they wanted jobs in pubs. There is one regret I have; it is not having worked the festivals more than I have. The buzz, enjoyment and what I get out of working what I have is on the highest of bars, sorry pedestals. I must have ticked a few boxes last year as this time I have been asked to be Deputy Bar Manager. There are still a good number of weeks before the festival and I already have the buzz. Set up for this year’s festival starts on October 27 with breakdown on November 2 with the  festival open October 29 – November 1, so if you fancy helping out, whether it be a session or two, (can you stretch it to three?) on the bar and /or helping with the set up and break down email ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­festivalstaffing@sheffieldcamra.org.uk. Nearly forgot, there is good beer (and cider) to be enjoyed. Fancy brewing beer?   To celebrate 40^th Steel City Beer and Cider we are having two beers brewed in advance that will go on sale in local pubs in September and October to promote the festival. Blue Bee Brewery and Sheffield Brewery Company have both kindly agreed to brew a beer especially for the occasion. CAMRA members will be gathering on the morning of Saturday 5^th September at Blue Bee brewery to help head brewer Josh brew the beer which as yet is unnamed but will be a 5% beer. If you want to experience the hard work that goes into brewing beer and lend a hand contact us at festivalstaffing@sheffieldcamra.org.uk for more details.

Ruby Anniversaries

This year 2014 marks the 40^th year that Sheffield will host a beer festival organised by Campaign for Real Ale volunteers making it one of the oldest festivals in the country. The first was held at the University of Sheffield and since then has travelled around many venues over the years having visited Hallam University, Netherthorpe, Cemetery Park, Ponds Forge and one memorably unsuccessful year at Darnall. This years 40^th anniversary festival sees a move to another new venue, one that hopefully will provide a character appropriate to the occasion to celebrate Sheffield as the “Beer Capital” of the UK. Kelham Island Museum stands on a man-made island that is over 900 years old, providing a historic setting for the festival. The museum tells the story of the growth of the Steel City through the Victorian Era and two world wars to see how steelmaking forged both the city of today and the world! This year’s festival artwork commemorates the Bessemer converter exhibited at the museum which was last used at Workington, Cumbria to make rails used around the world that was last blown 40 years ago this year. The festival will be spread around the museum including the upper gallery, a marquee outside and the Millowners pub all with different entertainment and things to do offering something for everyone. Kelham Island lies at the heart of the Valley of Beer surrounded by many freehouses selling real ales from both local breweries and from further afield. The museum is within easy walking distance of Shalesmoor tramstop, many bus routes and is only a 15 minute walk from the city centre.

Could you sponsor the beer festival?

Sponsorship is a great way to become involved in the festival. It doesn’t cost the earth but it does allow you to show your support, allows you to advertise yourself and contributes to the running of a successful event. If you are interested in becoming involved in the 40^th Steel City Beer and Cider festival there are a number of sponsorship packages available starting from just £100.  We are looking for individuals, pubs, businesses, societies and breweries to sponsor a range of items and activities, both at the festival and in the lead up to it. Sponsorship can take several forms:-

• making a financial contribution towards the general running of the event
• sponsorship of advanced publicity material (e.g. beermats)
• the offer of goods and services such as staff radios, transport and consumable items for use at the festival
• supporting a particular activity  such as entertainment, pub games, charity quiz or programme
• sponsorship of wrist bands, trade/sponsor tickets or beer/cider tokens
• Sponsorship of a particular stall such as the bottled beer bar or tombola.

New for this year’s festival is the ability to sponsor a firkin (9 gallons, 72 pints) of beer for £100. For this you will get you or your companies name shown over a barrel of beer at the festival. All sponsorship packages offer free admission to the festival, some free beer and a go on the pub games together with your name or business displayed inside the festival. In addition all sponsors get their names and details included in the beer festival programme and on the Beer Festival website. Celebrating a birthday, anniversary or other significant occasion, why not club together, sponsor a beer to celebrate and make a party of it at the beer festival. If you would like to support the Beer and Cider festival through sponsorship or have any questions please contact festival@sheffieldcamra.org.uk

Staffing

This will be my 3rd year managing staffing for the beer festival and the 4^th that I have worked in Sheffield, so I was well and truly thrown in at the deep end! My main job is pensions and as such the only thing I know about beer is that I love to drink it!  So I take a week off work every year where I work 30 hrs and volunteer for over 80hrs at the festival!  There are times over the week when I think why am I doing this? and the answer is always the same because it is such great fun.  I get a great sense of achievement being involved in pulling together the festival for Sheffield and it’s  for a great cause, the promotion of real ale and cider. We start the planning in January and slowly each month it comes together to produce the festival.  What this means for me is I sit there as they discuss pints per kiln and cooling and I get very confused.  Then they mention something that requires need staff and I wonder where I can find more people from. The answer is you!   I have many jobs that I need help with.  It’s not all serving beer.  I have busy jobs, sit down jobs, jobs where you don’t have to speak to anyone if needed! You may ask what is in it for me? Well the answer is if you work 4 hours you get free beer, a glass to put it in and you are already in the door so free entry!  I have people who volunteer for a few hours on the Wednesday and then come back shift after shift. If you would like to know more just get in touch. Louise Singleton

The basics

29^th October – 1^st November 2014 Over 100 real Ales and Ciders Entrance Wednesday 29^th October                                Free Thursday 30^th October                                    £1 (CAMRA Free) Friday 31^st October 12 to 5pm.                       £2.50 (CAMRA £1) Friday 31^st October 5pm to 11pm.                  £5.00 (CAMRA £2) Saturday 1^st November 12 to 5pm.                 £3.00 (CAMRA £1) Saturday 1^st November12 5pm to 11pm.        £4.00 (CAMRA £1) Kelham Island Museum Alma Street S3 8RY