The tasting notes from the South Fylde Group’s ‘GINgle All the Way’ evening could be described as; hints of merriment, a strong measure of local charity and affordability on the nose. Making for a great evening enjoyed by all.
South Fylde Group held its festive gin tasting event at the St Annes Palace, with 56 people in attendance. It was set out to be an enjoyable evening, being guided through four festive themed gins, including ‘mince pie gin’, ‘Christmas gin’, ‘chocolate orange gin’ and ‘festive yule’ flavoured gins, truly bringing in the Christmas spirit.
The gin tasting sessions were led by Canon Godrey Hirst, who is renowned for his skills as a speaker, keeping the attendees hooked on every word. Of course, Godfrey is no stranger to the group or even the groups charitable events, having hosted everyone at the virtual port-tasting evenings which were conducted over Zoom during the lockdown period. These events certainly took some serious logistics in order to deliver the miniatures to attending guests.
Thankfully, the South Fylde Group gin evening was able to take place in person, but what makes it quite the achievement is that the tickets were priced at just £16 each, matching the last gin tasting event held by the group in 2019. The deputy group charity steward Jon Boriss said: “With all the turmoil of recent years, including significant increases in cost, we wanted to try and deliver the event with an affordable ticket price, knowing that the event with the right numbers would make for a better experience all round.”
Of course, it’s not just the experience of the evening that has created a lasting memory, but also the impact by generous donations on the evening. When the night was announced, the group also stated that the benefactor of the evening’s charitable fundraising was to be Wesley’s Community Pantry and Larder, who help provide hot meals to those in need in the St Annes area.
Following on from a raffle during the evening, with an array of prizes generously donated by the attending guests, group charity steward David Jenkinson was pleased to announce a £500 donation to Wesley’s Community Pantry and Larder and he invited their founder, Paul Caddy, to speak to the guests about this important charity. This of course is the second donation to Wesley’s Community Pantry and Larder within the same week, as they also took receipt of £1,200 worth of food donations the week before, as part of the South Fylde Group’s food bank appeal. An already surprised Paul and team were also further pleased and surprised to learn of an additional cash donation, along with multiple bags of food, brought to the event by Ken Greenwood and Shaun Keane.
Deputy group charity steward Jon Boriss commented: “Charity being at the forefront of our aims to make such a difference to a local community charity so close to Christmas, is a truly inspiring thing to be a part of and as the South Fylde Group moves into 2025, we aim to deliver more highly affordable and enjoyable events that make a direct difference to our local community.”