Category: Co-ALE-ition News

 

Howling and the Mad Hatter launched the OMRLP 2014 European Elections manifesto and policies to the electorate of Oxford and they were filmed and interviewed by BBC Oxford whilst they were there. Both were on fine form during the recording, the reporter from BBC Oxford said this footage should be on their Politics Show sometime in June. Howling got talking to two Finnish tourists who were on the Morse Trail, by the end of the night they were on the Loony Trail. Oxford have two MPs i.e. Nicola Blackwood (Conservative) is the MP for Oxford West and Andrew Smith (Labour) is the MP for Oxford East. James Dixon (Manager) of The Grapes had put on HowlinGale for the occasion and it was very popular in this historic Bath Ales brewery owned pub. Mike Tempest from Wild Weather was also there for this event. The Oxford Times are covering this story.

Northbrook Arms visit on 24th April 2014

Howling and Derrill called in at the Mash brewery in East Stratton to check on progress regarding the launch of Monster Mash and the preparation for the East Stratton Ale Festival where the Loony party would have their own Festival Ale stand for two consecutive days. We then called in at the Northbrook Arms in East Stratton and had a pint of HowlinGale with one of the locals who was in charge of the Howling’s security at the Festival, not bad eh, Howling has his own personal security guard who also drinks Co-ALE-ition the long and the short of it).

Prince of Wales in Farnborough on 26 April 2014

Called in at the best real ale pub for miles around in our area for a pint of HowlinGale which was served with a smile by the Landlord’s daughter. HowlinGale was the third Co-ALE-ition ale to appear at the Prince of Wales and just like the previous two it proved to be very popular with the locals.

 

 

Albion in Winchester on 2nd May 2014

Howling and Derrill called in the Albion to give our thanks to Paul Soulsby and his staff for the Monster Mash launch event the previous night. Monster Mash was sold out so we had to make do with a pint of HowlinGale. Paul confirmed the night had been a big success and would welcome the Loony Party back anytime in the future. The Southern Daily Echo and the Hampshire Chronicle have both reported on this visit.

 

 

 

Fulflood Arms in Winchester on 2nd May 2014

Howling and Derrill called in the Fulflood Arms to give our thanks to Clive and his staff for the Monster Mash launch event the previous night. We enjoyed a pint of Monster Mash pulled by Ryan (Manager) and Winning Co-ALE-ition and HowlinGale were both available as well. Ryan confirmed the night had been very successful and everybody enjoyed having the Loony Party there, Ryan was also keen to get some more Co-ALE-ition ales on at The Fulflood and wanted to become the 1st pub to sell all five Co-ALE-ition ales. The Southern Daily Echo and the Hampshire Chronicle have both reported on this visit.

East Stratton Ale Festival on 4th & 5th May 2014

Loony Party Ale Stall hosted by the Wild Weather brewery on Sunday 4th May was selling three Co-ALE-ition ales straight from the cask i.e. Wild Weather brewery’s HowlinGale, Mash brewery’s Monster Mash and Ascot brewery’s Hope & Glory, Howling was the star of the day walking round with his with his loud hailer drumming up business for the Loony Party stall. However Howling had to keep on the move as he kept being told there was a Hog Roasting and it would be ready very soon!!. Howling was ill overnight and was taken to hospital (only released at 3.30am) but our Superhero was back at the East Stratton Ale Festival the same day to support the Mash brewery who were hosting the Loony Party stall on Monday 5th May when the same three Co-ALE-ition ales were on sale again straight from the cask i.e. Wild Weather brewery’s HowlinGale, Mash brewery’s Monster Mash and Ascot brewery’s Hope & Glory. Jon Coward (Landlord of the Northbrook Arms and Festival Organiser) reported a very successful day on Saturday 3rd May which helped to offset the disappointing Sunday & Monday, unfortunately The Loony Party’s stall was not open for business on the Saturday and no profits were made by the two breweries who hosted the two other days.

New Inn at Witney on 7th May 2014

Howling and the Mad Hatter launched the OMRLP 2014 European Elections manifesto and policies to the electorate of Witney. David Cameron uses the The New Inn as his local pub whenever he is in his constituency of Witney. Witney of course is where Howling stood 4 years ago at the 2010 General Election. Martin Cornish (Landlord) is also the Chairman of the local Conservative Party and the place was full of local Tories including the ex Mayor whose term of office had finished that very night. Surely we would never get a Co-ALE-ition ale on sale at the New Inn in Witney complete with a pumpclip containing ithe famous photo of Cameron and Hope on the front of it. Well Mike Tempest of Wild Weather delivered it for us and we had everybody in there drinking HowlinGale on the day when the next General Election is exactly a year away. Martin Cornish willingly entered into the sprit of the evening and even pinned up a large Keep Calm and Drink Co-ALE-ition poster on the pub noticeboard and then soon afterwards put up the OMRLP European manifesto and policies document right next to it. Fabulous night it was a shame when we had to leave to get to our next place. Howling was very popular with the locals and was asked many times if he was going to stand again in the Witney constituency next year. Some of the local Conservatives were taking lots of photos of Howling and the HowlinGale pumpclip and said with a mischevious wide grin on their faces that their photos would be all over Facebook and Twitter that same night. The Witney Gazette are covering this story.

The Royal Oak in Wantage on 7th May 2014

Howling launched the OMRLP 2014 European Elections manifesto and policies to the electorate of Wantage, this is the constituency of Conservative Ed Vaizey (Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries) and even more famous as the birthplace of King Alfred The Great. Howling said he would speak top Ed Vaizey and get him to add C0-ALE-ition as a 4th C to his list of Ministerial responsibilities. Paul Hextor (Landlord) gave is a great welcome and offered us HowlinGale straight from the cask which was served in superb condition. Paul’s only concern was that the Wild Weather casks were a bright pink so he had them hidden away in his cellar out of sight of his male real ale drinkers. Iain Clarke (Wild Weather Sales & Marketing Manager) was there for this event. Terry Knight, a local customer, said  to Howling “If you stand against Ed Vaizey next year and beat him I will pay for a statue of you to be erected alongside the statue of King Alfred The Great in Wantage Town Square”. The Wantage Herald are covering this story.

The launch of ‘Monster Mash’ last Thursday night in Winchester has been covered in the ‘The Hampshire Chronicle’ and the ‘The Southern Daily Echo’ follow the links below to read the stories.
The Hampshire Chronicle – Loony Party launch Euro campaign in Winchester
The Southern Daily Echo – Loony Party launches European election campaign

Around 20 invited guests attended the official launch of the Monster Raving Loony Party’s 7th ale which celebrates 30 years since the Party first stood at an election. The OMRLP are still the only Party to have their own range of ales (branded as Co-ALE-ition) and these are currently produced by five different micro breweries.
This latest ale is called Monster Mash, which is a rebranded version of Mash brewery’s award winning Mash Gold, this is a 4% abv golden ale, bursting with flavour and a lingering hoppy aftertaste. The unique, colourful and very eyecatching Monster Mash pumpclip  depicts Alan Hope (Leader) sitting on top of his OMRLP cabinet (see below for their names, job titles and responsibilities).
The party gathered from 6pm at the Mash Brewery premises in Burcot Farm near East Stratton and the official launch commenced at 7pm.
The event was hosted by Mash brewery Co-owner and Head Brewer Dr Graham Turner and his wife Sarah. Everybody was welcomed with a glass of Monster Mash straight from the cask and a welcome buffet, the feedback was very positive.
Alan Hope (Leader of the OMRLP) attended with all five members of his Cabinet who had travelled from Derbyshire, Sussex and London to be at this special event. The OMRLP Cabinet members in the same left to right order as they appear on the Monster Mash pumpclip together with their current OMRLP positions of responsibility are as follows:
Knigel Knapp – Shadow Minister for blatant lies and big fibs
Baron Von Thunderclap – Shadow Minister for saving the dodo
Chinners – Shadow Minister for spinning and bouncing
The Flying Brick – Shadow Minister for the abolition of gravity
RU Seerius – Shadow Minister for non committed manifesto commitments.
In addition, two other notable members of the OMRLP also attended, they were Badger, the OMRLP candidate at the Elmbride Council Elections later this month and Lady Hell ‘n Back.
At 7pm, Alan ” Howling Laud ” Hope the Leader of the OMRLP stood up and officially launched the Monster Mash ale and then as anticipation gripped the brewery he went on to formally announce the OMRLP European Elections manifesto and policies to the gathering throng. There was much amusement and laughter as he went through the prepared Press brief (copy attached above).
At 7.45pm everybody got into cars and taxis to be taken into Winchester where we went to The Fulflood Arms and were greeted by Clive Mansell ((Landlord), Ryan Mulcahy (Manager) and his staff. Clive was wearing a great piece of Loony memorabilia from the mid 90s, it was a Lord Sutch Loony rosette which the famous Loony legend had personally signed on the reverse side. The Fulflood Arms was packed and the atmosphere was electric as the Monster Raving Loony Party team entertained them with conversation and impromptu dancing whenever the iconic Monster Mash record from the 60s was played. In addition to the Monster Mash ale, Ryan had also sourced two of the Party’s other Co-ALE-ition ales which were HowlinGale from the Wild Weather brewery in Silchester and Winning Co-ALE-ition from the Longdog brewery in Worting near Basingstoke. Phil Robins, the Owner/Head Brewer of Longdog brewery, who produced the first ever Co-ALE-ition ale and also designed the 1st pumpclip back in Sept 2013 was also there to greet us.
The party now numbering around 30 moved on to the Albion pub in Winchester at 9.30pm where they were greeted by Paul Soulsby (Owner/Landlord) and his staff. The Albion is famous in Loony Party archives as this was the Loony Party HQ for ten days in Nov 1997 when the Party stood at the Winchester by-election. Screaming Lord (David) Sutch stood for the Loony Party on that occasion and this was the last ever time he stood at an election before his death in 1999. The Albion was packed to the rafters, Paul had sourced another Co-ALE-ition ale in addition to Monster Mash which was Wild Weather’s HowlinGale. The Monster Mash record from the 60s was played regularly and despite the lack of space in the Albion the Loony Party Leader and his cabinet were still able to demonstrate their prowess on the dance floor. The only thing on the night which was livelier than the Monster Raving Loony Party was the Monster Mash ale served in the Albion, it was explosive. All the Albion locals got involved and the party continued right until closing time when everybody left for their hotels or to make their way home.
The Monster Raving Loony Party certainly left their mark on Winchester and it was great to observe people we met, both young and old, having so much fun, laughing out loud and with wide smiles on their faces.

• It is only seven months since the 1st Co-ALE-ition ale was launched (Sept 17th 2013) and since then total Co-ALE-ition sales have now exceeded 10,000 pints.
• Over 5,000 pints of Longdog’s Winning Co-ALE-ition have been sold since Sept 2013 of which 4,000 pints have been sold in Howling’s local, the Prince Arthur in Fleet.
• A Co-ALE-ition ale has now been sold in 87 different pubs across 8 counties plus  Central London.
• Ascot Ales Hope & Glory has been sold in 35 different pubs so far.
• Our newest Co-ALE-ition ale, Wild Weather’s HowlinGale, launched earlier this month (April), has already been sold in 12 different pubs.
• Co-ALE-ition ales have been ordered by 5 Ale Festivals in 2014 and Fleet Lions Ale Festival (9th August 2014) has pledged to take them all.

We are very confident that we will now hit our two main targets of 20,000 pints of Co-ALE-ition sold in over 100 different pubs during the frst 12 months since the 1st launch.

We will be launching our European Election Campaign at the Official Launch of Monster Mash – on Thursday 1st May, at the MonsterMash Brewery in Winchester.

We are the only party to launch an election campaign for the Euro elections next Month in which we have no candidates standing and no policies to offer…Another first for the Loony Party

Did anyone notice that Alan “Howlin” Laud Hope called for a reduction of beer duty a few months ago, and in the last April Budget statement…Guess what!!!!

After The Queen earlier this month, Howling was invited to Royal Windsor for a special event on St George’s Day.
Howling was asked to attend the Windsor & Eton brewery’s 4th anniversary as their special guest of the day. A brewery tour was organised and we were able to sample 7 different ales, all of which were excellent but we particularly liked a very tasty light ale called Parklife which was only 3.2%. Yes you have probably guessed correctly we are trying to get this ale rebranded as a Co-ALE-ition ale but there quite a few hoops for us to jump through first as this brewery has very important connections which they cant afford to upset.
Windsor & Eton is an 18 barrel brewery, much bigger than any of the CO-ALE-ition breweries we currently deal with and they have over 250 regular customers so this is big league but an even bigger opportunity for Co-ALE-ition if we can pull it off.
There was a special ale brewed for The Queen’s Coronation which she also gave to the Pope in a hamper on a recent visit to Rome. Howling was heard to say ” if this Coronation ale is fit for a Pope its definitely fit for a Hope ”  The brewery also sources some of its barley from the Royal Farm in Windsor.
After the brewery tour, followed by a very nice Indian meal, we joined up with the Windsor & Eton owners (Willie and Paddy) and their staff on a Pub crawl in Windsor & Eton to 11 pubs all selling Windsor & Eton ales that night. Suffice to say, with only 15 mins permitted in each pub, we only managed to go to four of them (2 in Eton and 2 in Windsor) before making our way home with great Co-ALE-ition supporters Steve and Joy Lawson.

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.

Here is a link to an article in the Newbury Weekly News

Howling doing the honours today stood behind the bar serving two locals who are lager drinkers, they were soon drinking HowlinGale and enjoying it as well. HowlinGale was also the ale being used today in the Steak and Ale pie and the Battered fish.