On Friday 21 July was the twelfth year the Highwayman at Dobwalls has hosted a beer and cider festival raising money this year for Cornwall Air Ambulance.

The intention of members from the west was to catch the 10:58 train from Truro and 11:55 bus route 11 from Bodmin Parkway to Dobwalls. Members from the east could catch the 11 bus from Liskeard. Travelling from Crantock I arrived in Truro with plenty of time for either breakfast in Wetherspoons or catch the 10:30 train and have just under an hour to wait in Bodmin Parkway station café that is in the old signal box on the platform. Thinking that the 10:58 from Truro was going to Paddington and that there had been a strike the previous day, plus another strike on Saturday, it might be very busy. I caught the three-coach stopping train to Plymouth at 10:30 and had a very welcome bacon butty in the signal box café waiting for the rest of the party to arrive. Only Roger Pearce got off a packed nine-coach train after managing to get a seat as he got on at Camborne. He said other passengers were standing from Truro and St Austell. It turned out that members from Falmouth had no branch line trains until later due to the knock-on effect of the previous day’s strike and could no longer come.

The beer festival had been set up in a marquee on the lawn of the pub garden with tables and benches outside. There were 12 beers on the bar all served straight from the cask and all brewed in Cornwall. 2 beers from each of the following breweries were Castle, Driftwood, Firebrand, Penzance, Tintagel and Treen’s and ranged in strength from Driftwood Sea Shanty at 4% to Driftwood Alfie's Revenge at 6.5%. There were also 6 ciders from bag-in-box.

Three or four other branch members joined the rest of the customers travelling by bus from Bodmin or, in Roger Webster’s case, by car from Callington. Roger, being restricted in his drinking capacity, made up for it by having two very nice cheeseburgers from the barbecue.

Members living to the east, particularly the Liskeard area and able to get a bus to the festival, decided to take the train to Teignmouth on the Friday and would be attending Dobwalls on the Saturday.

Teignmouth Sunshine Festival 20-22 July

This was a CAMRA beer festival organised by the South Devon branch and also disrupted by the train strikes. Opening times on the Thursday evening were curtailed and attendance numbers on the Saturday were reduced. Five or more of our branch members took the train on Friday and were faced with a choice from 52 real ales. Valiant efforts were made to make a dent in the number before having to catch a train home before cancellations were to start.

Report by Steve Willmott