WHEN the Mayor of Malmesbury Ray Sanderson decided to stage a beer festival to raise money for his mayoral charity he had no idea he was instigating an annual event.

That was three years ago and while he has long since foregone his ceremonial robes and chain, the Malmesbury Beer Festival continues to go down a treat with local connoisseurs of fermented malted wheat and barley.

This year’s two-day supping session at Malmesbury Town Hall, which took place over Friday and Saturday, was supplemented with a Wiltshire Butcher’s Sausage Competition.

“Beer and sausages seemed to go down quite well together – the whole event went extremely well,” said the town councillor.

Breweries from as far as Cornwall and Stoke-on-Trent contributed ales for the festival during which around 400 attendees were urged to vote for their favourite brew of the weekend.

And despite so many beers from all over the country to choose from it seemed that old habits die hard for Malmesbury drinkers who voted their favourite ale as Habit, produced just down the road in Chippenham at the Flying Monk Brewery.

As a consequence of popular demand at this year’s festival there was something for the ladies who didn’t fancy spending the afternoon or evening quaffing beer.

The Malmesbury Food Bank laid on a wine bar for more genteel imbibers and raised £200 in the process.

Meanwhile, the Wiltshire Butcher’s Sausage Competition saw a panel of judges select their favourite bangers from a string of local butcher’s shops.

They inspected the sausages before and after they had been cooked, in order to gauge the shrinkage.

Then they downed the lot with relish before deciding that the winner was Wilson’s Family Butchers of Old Town, Swindon.

Now the sausage competition, too, will be held next year in tandem with the beer festival.

Coun Sanderson said the festival, where hundreds of commemorative mugs were produced as part of the admission price, raised funds for local schools.