02/08/2026
LAST ORDERS PLEASE!
As the sun sets on a long but very enjoyable 1st ITM Beer Festival we hope all that were able to attend enjoyed their visit(s) to our Museum.
Whilst the drinks flowed we saw a lot of happy faces and first time visitors to the Museum, thank you all for coming and supporting our fundraising efforts to preserve Ipswich's transport and engineering heritage
Now we must thank a lot of folk who came together to put on this event - this was months of planning, organising and setting up (as well as taking down over next few weeks!)
In no particular order (and apologies if we forget someone)....
- To our amazing volunteer team who all came together to staff and set up this event. From washing up glasses, selling beer cards, manning the bar, serving drinks with a smile, preparing and selling food, designing those highly desirable Beer Festival pint glasses, interacting with visitors, car parking, wiping tables, collecting rubbish, doing emergency runs to get more food and beer you were all AMAZING!!
- To our friendly bus crews (John, Mark, Charlie, Joe, Curtis, Keith) who shuttled visitors between Ipswich and the Museum so efficiently THANK YOU!
- To Daniel Trent of Dan's Coach Travel for supplying a bus/coach and driver (Toby/Noah/Richard) for free and Andy Cook for the loan of the open top bus (and his time) THANK YOU!
- To the 1st Woodbridge Scout Group for the excellent BBQ on Friday and Saturday THANK YOU!
- To our amazing bands, Infrared Band Page Kingdoms Fall and Pat Burnside for his 70s vinyl Disco, THANK YOU for entertaining us (apologies Infrared for our mop guitars to Status Quo...)
- To the Colchester Brewery for supplying 6 kegs of beer at very short notice on Saturday! THANK YOU!
- To all those who sponsored kegs for the event, your generosity is extremely valued THANK YOU!
- To our friends at Ipswich Buses for their sponsorship donation and continued support of the Museum THANK YOU!
A special thank you though to a few particular people....
- Ady, Karen and Ian at Dove Street Inn who have been so supportive by donating drinks, loaning equipment, expertise and their valuable time alongside running their own busy pub to assist us....
- To Gary Hale for masterminding and managing our bar and beer supplies (with such a great variety)
and finally to Owen Phillips and his small team of ITM friends and volunteers who together with Ady, Karen and Gary have co-ordinated the event set up, on the day management of various areas and the forthcoming break down of the event for the past few months! Without these people the event would not have happened - a HUGE THANK YOU
If you have any feedback for us on the event, please let us know, either by commenting here or dropping us a DM. We'd also love to see your photos!
Below is a few photos from the weekend, now we are going to soak our feet and have a drink ourselves!
