Ha! Look at us starting a Blog piece with an Oscar Wilde quote.
Yes it's a bit pretentious and the truth be told, old Oscar wasn't a great fan of beer being much more of an Absinthe kind of guy. But his line is kind of relevant to the topic of this week's blog.
When we set out to put on ACBF1 way back in 2012, with its car park venue, secured by industrial Heras fencing (described unkindly by one reviewer as “as much fun as it looks”), it took us a while to work out how to de-risk beer sales in the event of a washout and enable a profit to be made for charity. The answer came from a source that we have come to rely upon to underpin the financial viability of every ACBF since then.
Of course, we are talking about sponsors. Sponsors from all sizes of business and many different trades and professions have been good enough to part with their money to support us in our efforts to support local charities. It would be wrong to single any one of them out for extra praise here because every donation from a sponsor has meant that we have been able to add value to that money by using it to enhance the infrastructure of the event, advertise more efficiently or raise the bar with our music and beer offerings.
Elsewhere on this website, you’ll see a page dedicated to sponsors and you can reach their websites or contact details by clicking on the links on the page. Most of the businesses listed are small companies that are selling to consumers, so take a look and see if there’s any of them that could help you with your next purchase or forthcoming home/garden maintenance project.
We will mention the ongoing support that we receive from our Main Event Sponsor though, Dayla Drinks who are based in Aston Clinton. They loan us our bars, keg set up, fridges and importantly, their expertise. We work with them closely for the months leading up to the festival to develop the exciting out of region beer and cider lists that we bring you. This has enabled us to obtain products from some of the best brewers and cider makers in the UK. After all that and more, they still see their way to giving us a large chunk off the bill at the end of the event.
The one thing that ashamedly we haven’t been very good at over the years, is looking after and communicating with our sponsors. That is changing this year, as joining the festival committee we have an expert in charity fundraising and sponsor stewardship, Leah Lewis from Civitas Consultancy. Leah will ensure that we properly engage with our sponsors and that our commitments to them are fulfilled; ranging from advertising during the event to making sure that our sponsors have complimentary ACBF passes.
We’d like to offer a huge “Thank You” to everyone who has sponsored us in the past and welcome any of you that might be thinking about sponsoring us going forward.
If you want to become a sponsor of ACBF please contact Leah on leah@astonclintonbeerfestival.com. Sponsorship packages are available at all price points to suit all sizes of businesses.
You can find out more about Leah’s work at https://civitasconsultancy.co.uk/