EXCITEMENT is brewing for the 15th annual Horwich Beer Festival.

It is one of the Rotary Club of Horwich’s main fundraising events and this year organisers are hoping the festival will raise the bar and drum up a whopping £15,000 for charity.

The event will be held at the Horwich RMI Club in Ramsbottom Road, opening on Thursday September 4 until Sunday September 7.

Punters will be able to quaff their way through 39 different real ales from across the UK, including several local tipples from Bolton and Horwich.

There will also be ciders on offer as well as European lagers those with varying tastes.

Doors will open on Thursday at 7pm and guests will be able to sip their drinks to the sounds of cover singer Ray-G, with doors closing at 11.45pm.

The festival will run at the same times on Friday but will open from noon on Saturday, closing for business at 11.45pm.

On both Friday and Saturday former recording artist Gerry Cullen and his band ‘The Best Kept Secret’ will provide the music for the festival.

The fun will continue into Sunday with beer being sold from noon until 3pm, depending on how much remains.

The rotary club has secured North West property agency Miller Metcalfe as the festival’s principle sponsor.

Last year’s event raised £13,500 and organising committee member Pat Byrne believes this year can see an improvement.

He said: “Every year has seen this festival grow — and we are once again looking forward to it tremendously this year.

“We are hoping to raise a total of £15,000 this year, which will all go to good causes which the rotary club supports and we have made a great start with more sponsors than ever.”

“As ever there has been an awful lot of effort gone in to the planning and organising of the festival and we hope as many people as possible can come down over the weekend.”

For more information on the festival visit horwichbeerfestival.co.uk/