Upcoming Otter events for 2011

OK, so you'll see a strong focus on things that are related to me raising some money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, my charity of choice for the London Marathon this April, but there's a reason for that. Namely that I need to raise some money for the RNLI. We're saving lives here people. Serious business.

Anyway, it's my professed intent not to just ask people for cash. I want to try and raise the whole freaking lot through events that are fun for y'all to be a part of. It's like charity giving by osmosis, with the permeable membrane between you and the Lifeboats consisting entirely of drinks and fun.

So, the events. First up:

9 March - Charity Art Auction


UPDATE: Online gallery of the art - taking advance bids now! [LINK]

I'm hosting a charity art auction on Friday 9 March downstairs at Bar 163, Chertsey. Viewing from 7pm, auction from 9pm. All comers welcome, especially if they want to hit themselves up with some smashing art.

All the pieces in the auction have been donated by a smorgasbord of local and international artistic talent, with something to suit every taste. 'Eclectic' simply doesn't capture the sheer eclicticism of this collection. And ALL proceeds - no cuts for the auctioneer or the venue - will go towards buying shiny new lifeboats and saving lives at sea.

If you'd like to donate a piece to the auction, contact me here: chertseyotter@googlemail.com. The theme is ' I give you my word' - a piece of art based on your favourite word, phrase, quote or saying - and the medium is entirely up to you. I'm no bloody use at art and I've done something, so there's your benchmark. Go forth and create, good people.

With thanks to event sponsor The Brilliant English Company (hence the theme!).


23 March - The World's Most Awesome Pub Quiz EVER
Upstairs at the Crown in Chertsey on the evening of Friday 23 March. Yes, it's a pub quiz, but it's not just any old pub quiz. It's the most AWESOME pub quiz EVER. Why? You'll need to book a table to find out. Which also buys me a bit of time to back up such an outrageous claim with buckets of AWESOMENESS.

We have space for 15 teams of six. It costs £3 per person to enter, with a maximum team size of six, and there will be PRIZES, including shiny things, spoil-yourself things and drinky things. You have to come. It's going to be AWESOME.

To book a table, contact me direct or on email at: chertseyotter@googlemail.com. Big thanks to Tony, the Big Man at the Crown, for lending us the room and donating a rather spiffing prize into the bargain. Cheers!

I will be working the floor like this, but posh.




19 May (TBC) - The 2012 Chertsey Beer Challenge
More details to follow, but we've had to shift it from its usual St George's Day slot to allow for the fact that I'm running the London Marathon that weekend. For the RNLI. Saving lives at sea. Hint hint. Hopefully the weather will be smashing and it will give you an opportunity to brew up some of the good stuff for the Diamond Jubilee street party a fortnight hence. You know you want to.


The Chertsey Otters RFC 2013 calendar

Yes, we're definitely doing one and already have sponsors for January to July - Roberts the Butcher, The Crown, Bar 163, The Brilliant English Company, Hair by Mario, Heavey Builders and Big Gay Al's Special Page All to Himself. If you'd like to take a page in the calendar, it's very reasonably priced at £50 (o.n.o.) and it's going to be shot by an award winning Swedish photojournalist, so not tacky either. I should point out that this isn't a nude calendar. Most people would rather pay the Otters to keep their clothes on.

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If, given all that, you can't be arsed, I'm still very happy to take a donation. My Just Giving page is here, and it needs some love:  Just Giving - Richard Cable is fundraising for the RNLI

Full disclosure: money raised for Japan disaster relief at the 2011 beer challenge

Last year, you good people of Chertsey donated £146 to Japanese disaster relief at the annual Chertsey Beer Challenge. I paid this into JEN, the disaster relief charity recommended to us by our Japanese friend who is working for the UN High Commission for Refugees and is involved in disaster relief in Tohoku. He said JEN were doing by far the best work and that they would spend the money on actually helping people.

Four months after paying the money in here, JEN returned it, saying there was a problem with the payment. I spoke to them and they said the only way to submit cash from overseas is via their website, which, frankly, is crap. I tried again. Four months later, they returned it again. I spoke to them again and resubmitted on assurance that this time there wouldn't be a problem. You'll see a pattern developing here.

The long and the short of it is that I've just sent them the money for the fourth time, plus another £20 as a sort of 'interest accrued'. If I don't have any luck (we should know by June), I'd like to send the money to Shelterbox instead. They work across the world, including Japan, providing shelter and vital supplies to people in acute distress. This is obviously a change to the advertised charity, so if you have an objection, let me know directly or via comments.

Winners and pictures from the 3rd annual Chertsey Beer Challenge!

As the dark, rainy days of summer close in, it's nice to look back on balmy April and remember the good times. A mere two months after the event, I've finally posted the full results and pictures from the day. Thanks again to all Otters and non-Otters for a great event that raised a creditable £146 for Japanese disaster relief.

Prize winners and photos from the 2011 Chertsey Beer Challenge

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

The 2011 Beer Challenge is ON!!!

Every year we do a Beer Challenge, with the final held as near as possible to St George's Day. It's a brewing competition for first-timers and other amateurs and has been getting steadily larger each year. You are hereby cordially invited to take part in the 2011 challenge, which we hope will be the biggest yet.

Brewing beer is stupidly easy. It's virtually impossible to cock it up. You just need some basic kit, a bag of ingredients and away you go. Everyone brews the same recipe, with a little latitude for personalisation.

As ever, the final will be judged in a blind tasting by professional brewer and sainted beer guru Hugo Anderson. The Crown in Chertsey has once again kindly agreed to host, with the final taking place on Saturday 23 April - St George's Day - so we can carry on and get epic afterwards.

This year, for the first time, there are three categories to enter:

- Best Recipe Beer (this is the grand prix - click here for the recipe/instructions)
- Best Vintage Beer (for drinkable beers, made by you, that are over a year old)
- Best Freestyle Beer (this is basically like the fun dog show that takes place next to the serious pedigree stuff)

All you need to enter is to email chertseyotter@googlemail.com and tell me you're entering, then turn up on the day with your beer (click here for rules of entry).


To get a feel for the event, have a butcher's at the photos and results from the 2010 and 2009 finals. For the full site, with everything on it, click here: The Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge 2011.

Come on. You know you want to.

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

Pick your own Chertsey hops!

We've just discovered (through the twin agency of Hugo the Brewer and Sean the Roof) that the hedgerows of Chertsey are literally heaving with hops. How massively cool would it be to brew your own Chertsey beer for the Chertsey St George's Beer Festival with native, hand-picked Chertsey hops? I know. Unspeakably.

So we're organising a posse for mid-September to go out and scrump a fair tonnage, with Hugo as our tracker and guide. We're currently targeting the weekend of 17-19 September for optimum 'hop on' time, although we apparently need a dry day so that may be subject to some variability.

All those in favour say 'aye'!

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


Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge Blog [LINK]

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!!!

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.

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.

SAVE THE DATE! Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge - THE FINAL - Sunday 25 April

Save the date and be there for the epic Chertsey St George's Beer Challenge Final. We're currently looking at a 2pm kick off for the event, so no need for babysitters. Kids, friends, relatives, random people pulled in off the street, ALL WELCOME.

We currently have 20 competitors in the brewing comp, so we're more than double the size of last year. Great effort by all concerned!

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. Nothing heavy - just fun stuff.

More details as we have them!


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

WARNING: Brewing deadline fast approaching!!!

A friendly warning, mind. If you want to have a beer ready for 25 April, you pretty much have to have to get it under way this weekend (27, 28 March) latest. You need a week for your initial fermentation and probably 3 weeks in the bottle to ensure it clears in time.

That said, last year's winner (Willingale's Willing Ale) was brewed super-late and delivered to the judge still cloudy, so you never can tell!

Bottles!

Right, next up is bottles. Rather than spend a bleedin' fortune on these, I've negotiated with the landlords of local hostelries, chiefly the Crown, to go rummaging in their bins and recycle suitable glassware for your awesome brews. Let me know if you'd like any. First come, first served. (Likely to be 500ml rather than pints, but it shouldn't affect the flavour ;)