Otters to storm Chertsey Show for second year running!

The Schedule of Classes for the Chertsey Show (14-15 August) has just dropped through the letterbox and once again it's a genuine, full-blown treasure trove of fantastic challenges and prizes just begging to be won.

And won by Otters, dammit.

For those of you who can focus through 12 months of booze-fuddle and associated whimsy, you may recollect that the Chertsey Otters did a random draw of classes for last year's show, with people agreeing to enter whatever they drew out of the hat. And we fair near swept the board , winning everything from Best Victoria Sponge to Most Epic Scarecrow.

LINK: Otters sweep Chertsey Show!!!!

So we're going to do it again. The draw will take place this Friday 9 July and you're in it. Whether or not you actually decide to go ahead and do something about it is entirely up to you, but you'll probably be glad you did.

Such is the way of Otter.

There are a few changes and additions to last year's format. Floral Art is bloody expensive, so we're jocking it off, and the Horticulture section is pretty specialised, so we're jocking that off as well. Obviously feel free to chuck in your own stuff if you have it, but it won't be in the draw on Friday.

Beer, Liqueur and Wine is an open section, so hopefully all the beers brewed for the Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge will be entered, assuming samples have actually survived this long. Similarly, if you have a fun dog, please enter it in the Fun Dog Show. We'd like Harvey, Mozart, Dave, Boz, Bruce and other assembled Otterhounds to show the pedigrees how it's done.

That leaves Craft, Photography, Painting, Drawing, Baking, Jam and Preserves in the draw for the adults. Kiddies will be drawn from Scarecrows, Horticulture, Pot Plants, Culinary and Craft. Naturally, if you'd like to defend any titles you won last year, there's nobody stopping you (Ann).

STOP PRESS! This year will feature a tug-of-war competition on the Saturday. Eat pies in readiness, Otters, your imaginary rugby club needs you...

I'll email you all with the result of the draw, plus entry form and details of when you need to have it done by.

GO THE OTTERS!!!

Otters OWN fourth at Marlow Dragonboating Regatta

Go team. The Otters crew took on 35 other crews at Marlow on Sunday 12 June and claimed a highly creditable fourth place, making us easily the best mixed team in the regatta. The top three places were all claimed by proper dragon boating teams, one of which turned up with its own gold-plated, titanium alloy paddles. So we were the best scratch team too. And the best team with Otter in the title. And the best team from Chertsey.

But the only way we were going to win outright is if we could simultaneously ram and sink the three fastest teams, while somehow managing to limp over the line ourselves.

Of the nine places available in the semi-finals, we qualified ninth after one blinding and two fairly indifferent runs in the heats. Lining up against Paddle Up Your Creek, who only lost out on the title by less than a fifth of a second, we ran them damn close. Playing back through the Sky Four HD Box Office Plus (Extra) footage of the event revealed that PUYK got a rolling start which probably gave them the third of a boat length they beat us by.

Having sworn never to organise another dragonboating team because this one was such a balls-ache, the Chertsey Otters are now committed to defending our title and going for a hattrick of wins at Oakley Court, Windsor on Sunday 19 September. (Rumour is that Kayte may even be organising training sessions, however much this runs counter to the Otter ethos of 'just turn up and win'.)

So if you're interested in paddling, it's £32 a berth (which can be shared, halving the cost). Contact Kayte to sign up!

Otter's Marlow Crew of Legends: Max Parry (drum), Ben Gilbey (stroke), Debbie Hall, Debs Greenwood, Lucy Regan, Richard Cable, Big Gay Al Davis, Sean Parry, Kayte Cable (captain), Chris Mesney, Chris Greenwood and Ulrich von Lederhosen von Kleinsteuber von Kriegsmarine.

Shore support: Kate Smyth-Davys, Jo Mesney and kids, Mr Regan and kids, Suzanne Gilbey and kids, Hamilton, Ben K, James K, Max, Zoe, Zach, Jaego and Jessame.

Thanks everyone for giving it your all. Awesome day - great fun, good result. Bring on Oakley Court!!!

Go the Otters!!!

Beer challenge results and update!

Check 'em out over at the Chertsey Beer Challenge Blog.

• Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge: Results and 2011 Competition [LINK]
  

Any idiot can drink a beer. It takes a legend to make one.

Death or glory at the Marlow dragon boat regatta: Sunday 13 June 2010!!!

After colossal back-to-back victories at Oakley Park in 2008 and 2009, the Otters are once again taking to their natural habitat (no, not the pub) in search of glory on the stretch of river that is fast becoming our nemesis - Marlow.

Everything you'll ever need to know about the Marlow Regatta can be found here, at the Dragons Alive website: Dragons Alive Regatta at The Marlow Town Regatta & Festival [LINK]

It's a cracking day out, usually hot as hell with brilliant sunshine, and a lovely festival atmosphere to boot (on account of it being a festival and a regatta - clue in the title ;).

So if you fancy living the dream and paddling the Otters to their maiden Marlow victory, you need to let me or Kayte know by Thursday 29 April LATEST. It's £32 all in for boat, kit, entry fee, gazebo and helm. As ever, you can share a berth with someone to split the cost.

Let's face it. Do you have a better way to burn off 40 pints of Otter homebrew!?!

Go the Otters!

Thank you!

Huge thanks to the brewers, designers, drinkers and spectators who helped make the second annual Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge such a success. Special thanks go out to Hugo for yet another diligent and sparkling turn as our judge, and Tony for gifting us the function room at the Crown for the day. He's apparently quite a nice bloke really.

There were 18 beers entered by 16 brewers, all of whom put a fabulous amount of time and effort into their entries. At the current rate of growth, in 20 years the beer challenge will feature more than a million brewers and we will have collectively caused the collapse of conglomerate brewing in the UK. Reach for the stars...

The beers ranged from "skunky" to "excellent", and their labels from "filthy" to "inspired". As for the names, anyone who doesn't spend the rest of the week humming "I can't believe it's not butter beer" clearly wasn't in the room.

I'll be posting the results, etc., in more detail shortly, but in the meantime here's a list of the winners, FYI. If you have any photographs of the day, can you email me asap and I'll set up a Flickr stream for your collective delectation and pleasure.

Best beer: Romp of Runnymede; brewer: Big Gay Al
Best name: I can't believe it's not butter beer; brewer: Kayte and a cast of a thousand munchkins
Best label: Yellow and Blue; brewer: Anna R and the Swedish Dream Team

Until the next time, remember...

Any idiot can drink a beer. It takes a legend to make one.

Thank you!

Huge thanks to the brewers, designers, drinkers and spectators who helped make the second annual Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge such a success. Special thanks go out to Hugo for yet another diligent and sparkling turn as our judge, and Tony for gifting us the function room at the Crown for the day. He's apparently quite a nice bloke really.

There were 18 beers entered by 16 brewers, all of whom put a fabulous amount of time and effort into their entries. At the current rate of growth, in 18 years the beer challenge will feature more than a million brewers and we will have collectively caused the collapse of conglomerate brewing in the UK. Reach for the stars...

The beers ranged from "skunky" to "excellent", and their labels from "filthy" to "inspired". As for the names, anyone who doesn't spend the rest of the week humming "I can't believe it's not butter beer" clearly wasn't in the room.

I'll be posting the results, etc., in more detail shortly, but in the meantime here's a list of the winners, FYI. If you have any photographs of the day, can you email me asap and I'll set up a Flickr stream for your collective delectation and pleasure.

Best beer: Romp of Runnymede; brewer: Big Gay Al
Best name: I can't believe it's not butter beer; brewer: Kayte and a cast of a thousand munchkins
Best label: Yellow and Blue; brewer Anna R and the Swedish Dream Team

Until the next time, remember...

Any idiot can drink a beer. It takes a legend to make one.

THE FINAL: Sunday, 25 April, 2 - 5pm

The final countdown has begun. The moment of truth is imminent. A massive 21 brewers have entered the Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge, pouring their heart, soul and cheeky magic ingredients into lovingly crafted ales. Awesome.

Entry details, rules and regulations all detailed below, but if you're entering a beer, here are the key things you need to know:

• Registration for your beer entry is from 130pm on competition day.
• You will need your £5 entry fee.
  
• You will need three unlabelled bottles for the blind tasting.
• You will need one labelled bottle for the label competition.
• You will need to be able to explain your beer's name and the creative journey that led to your label. Short and sweet is fine!
  

In addition to the three Beer Challenge titles - Best Beer, Best Label, Best Name - there will be some additional on-the-day challenges which everyone can get involved in. These include beer tasting, dwyle flunking, eskimo longjump, yards of ale and boatraces.

Suggestions for additional activities welcome!

Any idiot can drink a beer. It takes a legend to make one.