Like a badly oiled machine the Wedmore Village Hall spluttered into life on Friday morning as organisers arrived to make final embellishments for the "Magnificent Seven" Wedmore Real Ale Festival. In a significant error of judgement the organisers had spent the previous evening relaxing with exceptional entertainment at a local hostelry and were paying the price, with six years of the festival already under their belts you would have thought that they would have learnt by now!

For their first task of the day Messrs Duckett and Stone enthusiastically set about tasting all the beers and ciders for quality control purposes. By noon they were arm in arm singing a song about courting goblins and at one o'clock they declared that the beer on offer was the "best ever" and then had to be laid out in the kitchen for "essential rest and recuperation".

At six precisely the doors opened to the best looking, most virile, honest, fertile and up standing citizens in the area (we can only hope that they sponsor again next year). By seven the festival was open to the public, some had been queuing for an hour to get in and by eight o'clock the hall was vibrant with beer flying out of the barrels to happy patrons.

Their was the influence of the orient in the local beers and live rugby marquee with the sweetness of the exceptional ales on offer balancing perfectly with the woefully sour English trouncing at the hands of the South Africans. It would have been ‘ying and yang’ incarnate if the mighty Loose Change hadn't struck up their mammoth rock and blues show on the peep of the final whistle. Suddenly all rugby disappointment disappeared as dancing and singing took hold in the hall. DJ Enhance (as recently heard on radio one!) finished the night off in some style and the happy crowds ambled off home after the bar shut at midnight.

Saturday morning was beautiful and with the sun shining and the birds singing the organisers set up tables and chairs outside. In many ways the Saturday afternoon session of the festival is the big secret as punters quietly enjoyed their beers whilst reading the papers and playing chess, draughts and shove ha-penny. An eclectic set of visitors attended including, beer connoisseurs, cyclists, walkers and men hiding their money from their shopping wives. Most took the chance to enjoy the Italian delicacies on offer from Cusina Del Sole whilst Gramophone Pete provided a wonderfully relaxing musical ambience.

Saturday night again featured live rugby in the marquee but the main focus was the Wild West theme. Cowboys and Cowgirls dressed to impress ho-ing down to the Country Blues skiffle band. Alan Hector provided a barbequed hog and the night flew past with revellers dancing till very late. Shoot outs with plastic guns broke out when the music stopped, luckily no Wild West bar brawling was witnessed!

Sunday was again a beautiful day so chairs and tables adorned the outside of the hall where many families set themselves up in the sun to read the papers and play games. Five fresh barrels kept back exclusively for the Sunday were prepared and everyone enjoyed the fresh beer and what was left of the 50+ other barrels. The raffle and auction were very successful raising £1700 to the giveaway total (final figure to be confirmed!). Organisers, volunteers and punters all pitched in to the clear up effort at 4pm and the hall was soon clean and tidy. Those left standing decided to go on a pub crawl around the village to finish the weekend in style!

A big thank you goes out to everyone that took part, whatever side of the bar they were on! Over 5000 pints were consumed by over 2000 people!

WEDMORE VILLAGE HALL - £2000

WEDMORE GUIDES - £500

WEDMORE BROWNIES 2nd TROOP - £500

WEDMORE IN BLOOM - £500

WEDMORE JUNIOR FOOTBALL CLUB - £500

WEDMORE SENIOR FOOTBALL CLUB - £500

WEDMORE YOUTH GROUP - £500

CHILDREN'S HOSPICE SOUTH WEST - £1000

NODDY/ARTHRITIS IN CHILDREN - £500

BLACKFORD VILLAGE HALL - £750

WEDMORE FIRST SCHOOL - £750