IN  KEEPING with their theme for the year of Cotswold Rail Ale, the organisers of this weekend’s Charlbury Beer Festival took delivery of 10 beers for the bar by train.

A collecting team travelled, courtesy of Cotswold Line train operator First Great Western, to stations in Worcestershire and Herefordshire last Saturday to collect the firkins of ale produced at nearby breweries.

When they were taken off the train at Charlbury, the beers were loaded on to a 1940s vintage lorry, to be taken to a cellar ahead of Saturday’s event at Charlbury Cricket Club, near the station in Forest Road.

Festival chairman Nick Millea said: “It was quite exciting seeing all the beer coming in. The train came into the station and gave a very loud toot of the horn. We’ve never done anything like this before.”

The festival, which opens at noon, will feature about 50 beers, along with cider, perry and wines.

Over the past 16 years, the event has raised more than £120,000 for community projects in the Charlbury area and abroad.