MORE than five thousand real ale enthusiasts raised a glass to the 40th anniversary of Farnham Beerex last weekend.

When a small band of Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) members enlisted the help of the Farnham Lions to put on the first event in 1977, little did they know that four decades later Beerex would still be going stronger than ever.

Now the longest running English beer festival to take place in the same venue, the Farnham Maltings - Beerex has raised almost £800,000 for charity over the years and its ruby anniversary event again didn’t disappoint.

Taking place over three days from Thursday, April 21 to Saturday, April 24, the festival offered its usual carefully selected range of beers, ciders and perries - complimented by a few special additions.

These included breweries from the inaugural 1977 event, as well as ales specially crafted for the occasion by local brewers Hop Art and Frensham Brewery.

The first ever band to perform at Beerex, Peter, Paul & Mary’s Brother, also made their long-awaited return during the Thursday night session, culminating with the last orders bell rung by one of the festival’s founders Paul Blowfield.

Paul, who now lives in Wolverhampton but still makes the journey back to Farnham every April for Beerex, told The Herald: “CAMRA began in the early 1970s because real ale was close to extinction at the expense of fizzy, flavourless beer and when we decided to hold a beer exhibition in Farnham, there were only 76 beer companies to chose from across the UK.

“Now there are more than 1,200 breweries in the UK and none of us who organised the first Farnham Beerex in 1977 could have imagined how successful real ale and this event would become.”

Cartoonist Bill Tidy also donated a specially created piece of work for the 40th festival programme, while a special range of 40th anniversary branded clothing was also sold at the festival for the first time, all in aid of charity.

Speaking after the weekend’s festivities, Phil Williams of the Farnham Lions which still organises the festival in partnership with the Farnham Maltings and CAMRA, hailed this year’s Beerex as a “great success”.

He said tickets once again sold out across all four sessions - the majority on one cold morning in February - with a welcome injection of new and younger people attending this year as well as the great enthusiasts and loyal supporters.

On behalf of the organisers, Phil thanked all the volunteers who made this year’s festival possible as well as Frensham Brewery and Hop Art Brewery for developing special beers for the occasion.

He also thanked Mike Andrew, Trevor Warner, Paul Blowfield, Derek Rowlands and many more for sharing their memories and memorabilia, as well as David Fisher and members of the Alton Farnham and Fleet Camera Club for recording all four sessions on camera, and the breweries and advertisers for their continuing support.

The Beerex committee is still counting the proceeds from this year’s event, but hopes to beat its £38,000 record in aid of an array of local charities and good causes.

It will also vote on the ‘best beer in show’ later in May.