For some too much beer causes a painful headache the following day but for the third annual Wanborough Beer Festival at the New Calley Arms there's no such thing as too much beer as every drop drank or spilt contributes towards a worthy charitable cause.

The event is organised by a group of men who call themselves 'The Old Boilers' and it was supposed to take place last year but lockdown postponed it twice until it could finally take place this weekend.

John Basevi, Bill O'Connell, Mike Thompson, Barry Hillier and Graeme Williamson are The Old Boilers and they came up with the idea of a beer festival in 2018 and have run the event since.

The initial aim of the first two festivals was to raise funds to replace a faulty boiler at the local St Andrews Church, which is how the group got their name.

"We wanted to raise money for a new boiler for the church," said Graeme

"So John, the landlord at the New Calley Arms, said we could use his pub and we did a beer festival and it was a massive success.

"We raised £13,000 with a profit of £6000 so we were able to get the church a new boiler."

This year's event offered the chance to sample an amazing selection of thirty drinks with twenty beers and 10 ciders.

There's also real community element as well because each beer or cider was sponsored and named by local individual or business. That sponsorship money is then added to the ticket sales and any profit is reinvested back into the Wanborough community.

"Money that's raised from the festival goes back into the village, anybody in the village can ask for some money and the Old Boilers will be able to help out," said Graeme.

Swindon company Lawson Group were the main sponsor with other local businesses like Lotmead Farm, Monarch Roofing and Wolf Catering also contributing.

"We're very grateful to all of our sponsors, many of them paid way back in 2020 and instead of asking for their money back they allowed us to keep the money until we could run the event," said Barry.

John Beeden, the landlord, added "I thought it would be fantastic to do something good for the community so, of course, I said yes to using the pub when I was asked.

"We're happy to give up our facility for a good cause and to help the village."