Mytchett born Alan Hope took time out of his busy schedule to return to his roots and officially open the Mytchett Community Centre Beer Festival on Friday night. Howling lived in nearby Coleford Bridge Road, Mytchett until he was 3 and then moved the short distance into Farnborough where he remained for many years thereafter. Howling still has memories of the Mytchett Community Centre site from 70 years ago when it was a garage.
There were 26 ales from 10 different micro breweries plus 5 draft ciders. Howling was especially delighted to see two of his Party’s Co-ALE-ition ales were on that night i.e. Wild Weather’s HowlinGale and Longdog’s Winning Co-ALE which were both very popular. During a break Howling popped into the Members bar and discovered a third Co-ALE-ition ale on sale, this time it was Ascot Ale’s Hope & Glory. The local Hogs Back brewery’s A Over T at 9% abv, served only in halves, was also an attraction for the local real ale enthusiasts who had turned up in large numbers for the opening night of this annual Ale Festival.
Dave Hughes and the Alley Cats provided the musical entertainment. Howling knew them well and joined them on stage to sing “Little Old Wine Drinker Me” to rapturous applause and followed this up with his rendition of ” Route 66 ” later in the evening.
What was very evident was how the Mytchett community had all come together to make this Ale Festival such a huge success, nothing was too much trouble and everybody got involved and helped out. The whole Centre was vibrant with a great atmosphere and it was obvious from the wide range of activities and event bookings on the noticeboards that the Centre was at the very heart of community life in the village and regularly used by people of all ages. Everybody knew Howling and he was in demand all night for photos and autographs and to sing more songs.
All the profits from this 2 day Beer Festival are going towards the Mytchett Community Centre’s ” Save a Brick Campaign ” which needs to raise £20,000 for urgent repairs and renovations to the Community Centre building before the end of this year.
