Tring Brewery Tour Raises £800 for Tring Mayor's Charity for the Year - Iain Rennie Grove House Hospices

With all the ticket money in, a mystery donor contributing the cost of the fish and chips and the brewery covering its own costs for the evening, the event made £800 towards Iain Rennie Grove House Hospices.

Iain Rennie Grove House sent one of their Charity Ambassadors, Russ Brown, to thank everyone for their support and to outline the work of the charity in providing their much appreciated and badly needed services to patients and their families.

Seen in the picture ( l to r ) is company director and founder of Tring Brewery, Richard Shardelow, with Liberal Democrat Cllr Nick Hollinghurst, Mayor of Tring, and Russ Brown from Iain Rennie Grove House.

The bar staff were kept busy serving samples of Tring Brewery's products, but the charity supporters seemed to have some difficulty in deciding which of the six brews on offer that night they really preferred. At least we suppose that that was the reason they kept returning to the bar for yet another pint of a different ale. Tring Mayor Nick decided early on that his favourite was the new offering, Navigator, but nevertheless it was as well that a kind neighbour had offered to drive him and his wife, Rosemarie, back up the hill to Wigginton.

The tour round the vats, mash tubs and storage vessels was enlivened with a chance to sample some of the ingredients, with the barley and malt proving quite successful as bar snacks. But the seriously strong and bitter taste of the raw hop pellets had several people dashing back to the bar for another pint to mitigate the effect.

Judging from the sound level in the bar the craic was flowing as fast as the ale, and judging from the attentive crowds circulating round the production floor Richard Shardelow's somewhat simplified explanations of the complexities of the planet's oldest industry held everyone's interest.

All in all a good evening in a good cause. Thanks to Richard and Jane at the Brewery and thanks to everyone who turned up in support of the hospices. If you had wanted to go on the Tour but missed it for some reason, don't despair - there will be another one in February!