Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival

rdf:langString Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival

rdf:langString The Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival (formerly the Oakwood Real Ale and Music Festival) is an annual real ale festival that takes place in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The event takes place annually at the Magna Centre, Rotherham a former Steel works, it is the largest indoor beer festival taking place outside London and unlike many other festivals serves all cask ales using traditional gravity-based hand pumps. Proceeds from the festival are used to support the work of local charities and good causes. Since the festival relocated to Magna in 2011 it has raised in excess of £150,000 for local good causes. Charities which have benefitted from the festival have included: The Rotherham Hospice, Weston Park Cancer Hospital, Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice and Safe@Last as well as a number of smaller Rotherham-based good causes. Unlike many other beer festivals, the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival is not organised by CAMRA, although the festival does enjoy close links with the Rotherham branch of the organisation. Inside the festival, the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival regularly features a selection of over 250 different varieties of real ale, as well as 80 different types of cider, wine, perry and lager. In 2011, the festival was attended by 10,000 visitors, raised £35,000 for local good causes. 85,000 glasses of beer were sold at the festival in 2011, which were sold in half pint measures making the Rotherham festival one of the largest festivals in the UK based upon the volume of beer consumed. In 2013, the festival was opened by local World Superbike Champion James Toseland. Toseland featured in the following year's festival, making a surprise guest when he performed with his band Toseland. The festival is typically opened by local dignitaries which have included Rt Hon John Healey MP former minister for pubs as well as the mayor of Rotherham.