Cheers! Beartown Brewery raises the bar on Astbury's marathon effort to support the NHS

By Tom Avery

24th Jun 2021 | Local News

Beartown Brewery has raised the profile of the Astbury club's Longest Day Golf Challenge on Monday by sponsoring an event which has been arranged to raise funds for the NHS.

Mark Glover and three fellow members are playing four rounds of golf, a marathon fourball they expect to complete in just under 16 hours.

Money raised will go to the University of North Staffs Hospital Cystic Fibrosis department in Stoke, which supports and cares for Mark's 12-year-old daughter Georgia.

The brewery have donated enough free beer to contribute £250 to the fund from bar takings in the clubhouse.

Managing director of Beartown Brewery, Joe Manning said: "Mark and his golf pals are certainly putting in a shift for our wonderful NHS so we though it only right we should do our bit."

The gesture cements a burgeoning relationship between club and brewery which began just over five weeks ago.

The club's bar steward, Cat Lansley, prompted the introduction of Beartown's local brews and already the take-up is 360 pints a week.

"I did not know there were that many thirsty golfers in the world," said Joe, "but the figures don't lie.

"This is an exciting new account for us and although we have been in business for 27 years and have some great customers, the golf club has quickly shot into our top ten.

"The interesting part is that because we have only just got together, there are lots of add-ons we can do for the club to give better value now we know things are going as well as this.

"We introduced home deliveries during the lockdowns and at one stage we had a situation where they had gone from nought per cent of our business to 100 per cent. That is a factor among the golf club members."

The brewery distribute over the UK mainland plus the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland and in the last three stagings of the World Beer Awards they have won four medals – two silver and two bronze.

However home is where the heart is and Joe said: "This gives us a lot of pride and satisfaction on our own doorstep.

"We have found a welcome at a local golf club famous for its beautiful course and with so much tradition behind them, they will celebrate their centenary next year.

"This is the special part, local businesses supporting other local businesses and the community of Congleton getting behind their clubs in the town where we live."

Bar steward Cat, who used to pull pints at Congleton Rugby Club, said: "Beartown are lovely people, excellent to deal with.

"I have known Joe a long time and over the years I have come to realise this is far more than just a brewery, they genuinely care about the local community because they are part of it.

"If you have a problem Beartown are always on hand to offer their advice plus practical support and they always give out good vibes."

Anybody who would like to contribute to the Longest Day Golf Challenge NHS fund can do so via the link here.

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CONGLETON captain Bill Hunter will make an impression one way or another on Monday evening when he dresses up for the occasion of the club's first New Members Evening since May 2019.

By usual golfing standards, he will look more like Wild Bill Hunter as he struts his stuff catwalk style by parading in a golf cap with the peak the wrong way round, a collar-less T-shirt not tucked in, cargo pants with big pockets and trainers.

New members will be asked if they can see anything wrong with any of this.

Congleton's fun approach to the subject of the sport's normal dress code plus its rules, etiquette and safety standards will be in the capable hands of the compere for the evening, chairman Paul Bennett, an avuncular and friendly character popular in the area's golf circles.

All of this will be accompanied by a free drink for new members, a brief history of the club, an introduction to key officials who will be there to answer any questions plus a Q&A session.

Paul said: "Whatever the question is that a new member has to ask, then the right person will be there to answer it. The whole idea of the evening is that everybody gets to know what's what."

Covid has put many golf occasions on hold, not least The Open Championship at Royal St George's next month, by which time Shane Lowry will have waited just as long to defend his title.

Congleton's way of welcoming newcomers is not only an extra opportunity for them to make new friends, it doubles up as a recruitment night.

Paul said: "It does bring opportunities to add to our membership and one of our newcomers has told me he is bringing three friends along. That gives us a chance to introduce them to the reality of Congleton Golf Club."

Given non members are always able to use the bar in the clubhouse, whether or not they know any of the members, Congleton run what in effect is the town's "Pub on the Golf Course."

If on Monday you fancy taking advantage of a facility with more impressive countryside views than the majority of pubs, Congleton's New Members Evening starts at 7.30pm.

You will be made welcome.

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THE inaugural English Under 18 Championship is for boys and girls competing together for the first time, in the same championship, for a single trophy.

This event is part of England Golf's modern approach to the club and amateur game and the championship was hugely oversubscribed when bookings went live in April.

The three-day tournament, which starts at the Farnham club in Surrey on Friday, is sponsored by Modest Golf Management.

This is a company owned by musician and golf enthusiast Niall Horan, passionate about backing junior golf in all its forms.

Modest Golf will provide the leading boy and girl golfers from the championship with an exclusive invitation to a Challenge Tour or LPGA/LET event.

For the inaugural championship, 66 boys and 66 girls will compete over 72 holes of stroke play to decide the single winner.

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FOR more information on the golf clubs this column covers every Saturday morning, visit Astbury and Congleton's websites.

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Tim Taylor of timmyteepr is a former national newspaper staff sports reporter and sub-editor who is now chief writer for the online golf magazine Exclusive Golf & Travel.

He is a member of the Association of Golf Writers, the Football Writers Association and the Cricket Writers Club.

     

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