Wedmore Real Ale Festival (WRAF) celebrated another record year of ale drinking and fundraising on Saturday night, with the organisers pouring out £20,500 in donations to local worthy causes, their largest donation yet.
Some 18 organisations were handed cheques at the annual Presentation Evening at Wedmore Masonic Hall in Wedmore on 1st October 2022. The cheques were presented before 70 people, made up of the successful beneficiaries and Ale Festival volunteers, who gathered to celebrate a very successful 21st festival, which took place in the village over the weekend of 9-11th September.
This year’s new record breaking £20,500 brings the total amount of money we have raised for local worthy causes over the festival’s 21-year history to a whopping £246,820.
The beneficiaries for 2022 include Children’s Hospice South West, Weston Hospicecare, Weston-Super-Mare Samaritans, Somewhere House (Somerset) Limited and Wedmore & Axbridge Community Health Fund.
‘As with all previous years, we’re delighted that this year’s festival was such a success. We’re delight to be able to give away a record-breaking £20,500 this year,’ said James Turbitt, WRAF’s Chairperson. ‘This has exceeded all our expectations as we had incurred huge increases in all our costs this year, then the death of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the eve of the festival, left us unsure if we could or should open and, if we did, if anyone would turn up.’
James added: ‘Deciding on where and how much to donate is always a difficult decision and it never gets any easier with so many worthy causes in need of funds, but giving out the cheques makes all the hard work in running the festival more than worthwhile. None of this would not be possible without the huge commitment from our committee, the team of volunteers, our sponsors and everyone else who supports the festival in one way or another. So, they should also take the credit for what we have all achieved this year”
Here are our complete list of 2022 beneficiaries.
The donation to Wedmore Guides includes their £500 share of the takings from the festival raffle, which they helped to run and which generated £1,895.75 worth of takings.
The dates for next year’s festival are changing back to the third weekend in September, so please put the 15th–17th September 2023 in your diary.