Deja Macc

I hate farewells so I'll not be attending our final league game - all being well it won't be a case of Goodbye but Au Revoir instead and we'll be back in the League in the not too distant future.

So instead of trekking up to Darlo with Martin and Chris, I'll be taking my second trip to Macclesfield in less than a week as I make my annual pilgrimage to their beer festival - the 16th since it all started.

The backbone on the beer side of the event has been the same since that first festival - my mates Trevor and Keith handling the bar manager duties, ably supported by local CAMRA members and other volunteers.

There will be about 130 cask ales from many new micros plus the odd one-off special beer for the festival. And after they went so quickly last year, there will be at least 35 ciders and perries available.

The Friday and Saturday night sessions are ticket only - Friday usually sells out and Saturday will be close - with a lot of live music on both nights which generally means a quite mixed crowd.

It's a fun festival and all money made is donated to local charities.

For me, the best time to come is the free Saturday lunchtime session which is more family-oriented as well as being extremely popular with the ticker fraternity who travel from far and wide to check out Trev's beer selections.

See you at the bar...