Woohoo Clare has just pointed out this1, and that it's fathers day weekend, and that she will drive me to it!
Celebrate the arrival of summer with a visit to the Kent & East Sussex Railway in Tenterden on Saturday 16 June 2012 for the annual CAMRA's Real Ale & Cider Festival.
This popular social event takes place between 11:00am and 10:30pm (or until the beer runs out!) and is organised with the Ashford, Folkestone and Romney Marsh Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.
It's a great event and an online video of last year's festival can be seen on the railway's website under video lounge www.kesr.org.uk
On the day visitors can partake in a wide range of activities, from trying a diverse range of some of the finest Ale, Cider and Perry in the exclusive beer tent, or relaxing and listening to an eclectic mix of live music. This will all be complemented with a delicious selection of food from a BBQ or the stations licenced refreshment room.
The festival will get into full swing from midday when the first of five bands take to the stage, which is built across the railway track.
This year's band line-up is confirmed as;
12.30 pm - Stone Junction
3 pm - Colby Rivers Blues Band
4 pm - Bluezy Toonz
6 pm to 8 pm - Peoples Republic of Mercia
9 pm to 11 pm - The Swinging Sixties
Morris dancers will also be performing during the festival at around 5.30pm.
This is part of my site The Folkestone Gerald that I built in a frenzy of excitement when I first came to Folkestone sometime in '04. I had been a regular visitor for a while previous to that but I am technically one of those Down From Londons you get nowadays. This site used to be updated more frequently with a gig calendar and voting for favourite venues + things, and I know it was a useful resource for those who were moving here. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only to Hythe) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is now becoming the exciting place we knew it was just about to. I am not Gerald by the way, the name comes from a pretend newspaper in an episode of The Day Today or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do get in touch if you have anything to contribute, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on the twitter.