There’s some room for confusion in my diary about the date for this event; 6th or 7th August. The e-mail trail suggests that we were originally aiming for the 7th but then switched to the 6th.
Jez Horne was the main ringleader for these beer festival trips, which tended to include several of his non-Z/Yen mates. I think some of the Z/Yen McLagan crowd might have joined us still at that time. Jeremy Smith, James Pitcher and others were usually keen on this event and for sure were invited. But whether or not they actually joined us that year is lost in my memory.
It was one of the first events at which Monique Gore took centre stage, not least because the festival authorities insisted on her proving her age eligibility and then tagged her so she could prove herself to all and sundry.
My other abiding memory – I’m pretty sure it was this particular visit to the beer festival – was of some fierce competition at bar football with some of Jez’s mates, including one quite stunning result for me (something like 9-1) against a much-fancied fellow who at that time was still mis-spending much of his youth/young adulthood at the game. This must say something about my own mis-spent youth, the ease with which old skills can be reharnessed and the ability of small quantities of alcohol to improve my performance at most games.
Others who were there that evening must have some good/better memories to add. The more the merrier – please do comment.
Jez writes:
I do indeed remember the beer festival well – balloons are a big tradition at that particular festival – with a group coming in every year to make hats, animals (anything they can out of balloons really) for nominal donations – indeed, it became a bit of a tradition for myself and Monique in particular to get some kind of obscure headgear each year. I also have a vague memory of the table football – but not exactly who it was that thought they were the expert!