Volunteers stepping in to continue Berwick Food and Beer Festival
A group of volunteers are forming a community interest company to enable a popular annual event to continue.
The Berwick Food and Beer Festival, which attracts thousands of visitors to the town each August, needs new people to take it on from Berwick Slow Food.
Starting as a small food market nearly 20 years ago, it has grown significantly during the past five years and this summer featured 75 stalls together with a large music and beer marquee.
A group of people came together to discuss how to proceed with continuing the festival and any potential changes after learning that Berwick Slow Food’s time running it was coming to an end.
Jon Hird, who leads the new group, explained that after hearing about the community interest company and a summary of what is being looked at during a recent meeting, Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council agreed to offer full officer support going forward.
This year’s festival reached capacity on the Saturday and initial planning is taking place to relocate the music and beer side of the event to The Stanks football field whilst utilising the parade ground in front of the Barracks for the market. This move will be subject to permissions being granted from relevant stakeholders.
The community interest company will have an ‘asset lock’ with full transparency via a new website.
The asset lock ensures that any profits from the festival would be reinvested in future years and in the event that the company is wound up, then assets would be transferred to other Berwick charities.
Mr Hird said: “We wanted to collaborate with the town council from the outset and welcome their support.
“The festival is a huge asset to Berwick’s social calendar, attracts thousands of visitors and supports local businesses, and we felt it needed to continue and grow.”
The website is set to be launched early in the new year through which people will be able to buy tickets and become company members should they wish.
Businesses will be able to apply for stalls through the website and sponsorship incentives will be offered.
“The aim is to recreate the success of this year’s festival, make it more family friendly and grow it to become an event that Berwick is proud of,” added Mr Hird.