Charity festivals raise £27,000 for GNAAS

 A sell out beer festival and a music festival held in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) raised £27,000 for the lifesaving charity.

A presentation has been held to hand over the money from the CornShed festivals, which are hosted by Judy Kitching MBE at Sexhow Park Farm, near Hutton Rudby.

The music festival-goers enjoyed the two day event in June with a variety of musical performances from bands including The Fallen, Steal Strings and Last Anthem.

At the one day beer festival in August there were more than 50 barrels of ale available plus 12 boxes of cider and perry along with a various selection of wines.

A specially-brewed beer, named MBEer in honour of Mrs Kitching, sold out just three hours into the event, and by last orders the vast majority of the remaining barrels had been supped dry.

The Cleveland Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) provided their expertise at the event, as well as bringing along lots of volunteers to help keep the beers in optimum condition.

In total, 27 local businesses sponsored barrels including Wilko who generously covered the cost of 28 beer barrels.

Mandy Drake, head of fundraising at GNAAS said: “The events were both huge successes – that’s clear to see from the massive amount raised. We can’t thank Judy and all this year’s volunteers, supporters and attendees enough.”

Mrs Kitching presented the cheque to GNAAS at a celebration event on September 14^th.

Next year’s CornShed Festival will be held on the summer solstice weekend, Friday 20^th and Saturday 21^st June 2014, and next year’s CornShed Beer Festival will be held on Saturday 6^th September 2014.