ON Saturday, June 29, Bingley Bantams will be hosting their second Beer & Gin Bash at Valley Parade, the home of Bradford City, from 1pm until midnight.
The Bingley Bantams have built on the success of last year’s inaugural event, which saw the launch of the Telegraph & Argus 150th anniversary beer, and which had an array of special guests in attendance.
These included former Bradford City legends, ex-players and managers including Gary Jones, Simon Ramsden, Peter Litchfield and Terry Dolan.
Three popular figures in Bradford, former City Chief Operating Officer, James Mason, the then WBO European Welterweight champion, Darren Tetley and Ross Peltier from the Bradford Bulls were also there.
A number of the special guests are returning once more for this year’s event, alongside other well-known names such as former 80’s Bradford City winger, Mark Ellis.
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Secretary of Bingley Bantams, Ian Taylor, is thrilled to be hosting the groups’ second Beer & Gin Bash event.
He said: “Following the success of last year’s event, which surpassed all of our expectations, we couldn’t wait to commence with the planning for this year’s Beer & Gin Bash.
“We have tried to adopt a ‘less traditional’ approach to the beer festival calendar, with the introduction of special guests alongside live music throughout the day.
“This year we have also built in some other surprises to the day, including a cashless prize casino.”
The bash has attracted the support of local businesses, to whom Mr Taylor is very grateful.
He said: “It has been really great to see the interest which local businesses have shown towards this year’s Beer & Gin Bash, by sponsoring the event or offering to help out in different ways.
“Many businesses even contacted us prior to the planning launch to support the event, which says a heck of a lot.”
Tickets for the event are £5, which includes a commemorative pint or gin glass. Attendees can get pints from £3, and a single spirit and a mixer from £4.
There will be plenty of choice for the punters with an array of different craft and keg beers from local brewers Saltaire Brewery alongside other ranges, together with a huge choice of different gins.
These include the world’s number one gin, the Makar Cherry Gin from The Glasgow Distillery Company.
The Bash begins at 1pm in the banqueting suite at Valley Parade and there will be live music to keep folk entertained during the evening. One of the acts already confirmed are local rock covers band, OCD.
Mr Taylor added: “We are also really proud to announce that Georgia Thornton, who has been truly fantastic at raising money for the Bradford Burns Unit, will be attending to sell her wonderful Bradford City Ribbons, as she aims to raise over £3,000 during 2019 alone.
“Anyone who has bought one of Georgia’s ribbons will tell you the amazing story behind them and how poignant they are.
“If everybody who attends the Beer & Gin Bash buys just one ribbon each, then Georgia will be well on her way to meeting that fantastic target.”
Bingley Bantams committee member, Craig McCall, added: “Jason Thornton from Pulse Radio will be there and so will Andy Kiwomya from our ’96 Promotion team.
“We’re hoping to have Jamie Lawrence along from our Premier League days too.
He laughed: “Ian’s struggling to keep up with the demand for tickets and that will only increase because City put out their launch for the event on Monday.
“We’ve got a lot of female parties that have booked to come along. I think they’ve been drawn in by the gin element.
“We do a lot for City. We’re the main party responsible for refurbishing a bar in one of the stands and we’ve raised over £10,000 for their main partner charity, One in a Million, which was co-founded by (former player) Wayne Jacobs.
“We did the Three Peaks challenge last year and we’re doing a bike ride from Liverpool to Leeds this year along the canal.”
More information and tickets are available at bingleybantams.co.uk
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