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