Beer Regatta Week is under way as a virtual event this year because of Covid-19.
During lockdown the organising committee waited as long as it could before deciding that the annual event, which has been running for over 100 years, had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.
Helen Follett, who volunteers with the committee, running its website and Facebook page, suggested that a virtual event could be organised harnessing technology and allowing people who couldn’t be in Beer to enjoy a scaled down regatta.
So Regatta Remotely was born.
Helen is managing the events on Facebook and the website, with Fiona Gage managing the Instagram and Twitter sites.
Said Helen: “We had a very successful virtual races followed by the Regatta Remotely quiz hosted by Mike Entwistle.
“Fiona Gage and Nigel Groves, our Beer Scout Group leaders, hosted a really interesting talk about the 24th World Scout Jamboree last year. This can be viewed on the Beer Regatta Facebook page.”
Currently Regatta Remotely is asking people to post old photos of regattas past to create a library on the website.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) there is a ‘remotely cream tea’, an event usually held in real life at the village sailing club.
This time people are to have a cream tea in their own garden and post pictures on social media.
Thursday is traditionally Regatta Day and this year it will again feature the popular fancy dress competition.
People need to wait for Regatta’s Jack Ratt to post his fancy dress outfit and then comment and attach their own photos onto the Facebook post feed. Or they can upload them onto Instagram and #beerregatta.
On Friday, August 14, people are invited to submit photos in a contest to chose the front cover of next year’s regatta programme.
The competition will run for one month. The winner will be chosen by a Facebook ‘like’ voting system in September.
When people have completed their picture they should take a photo of it and email it to Helen Follett at beervillageuk@gmail.com .
To find out more about the regatta programme visit https://beerregatta.co.uk/programme/
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