Community Spirit

Nearly five years ago Gavin and I (Gary) were planning and organising what is now the Copper Pottle micro pub. An important consideration for us was choosing a charity to support. We wanted a local organisation and both knew some of the good work carried out at Strode Park.

Immediately after opening we started collections by fining customers £1.00 for using their phone, a strict no no in our micro pub. After a few months we decided to hold a charity food night, the food was supplied free (ish) but with a donation to Strode Park. £74.00 was raised, which we thought was excellent but as more events were organised the donations grew and grew. The generosity of our customers far exceeded our expectations with many regularly putting their change into the charity pots.

A variety of themed food nights continued regularly every six weeks, themes such as, pie night, ploughman’s, can of peas (canapés), Mediterranean and Chilli night and on our anniversary a BBQ in our pub garden. However, as the food nights grew more popular we hit an unexpected snag – we couldn’t fit everyone in the pub. It was fine in the warmer months as people could spill out into the garden. It was decided to do Quiz(ish) nights during the winter, (you’ll notice the ish word a lot at the Copper Pottle). By pre booking the event we could restrict numbers to 32 and have proved to be very popular, selling out in a few days.

We have just held Quiz 8 which raised a total of £523. Our Quiz’s contain unusual rounds featuring tasting rounds, doing rounds and an odd ish music round. This has taken our running total raised so far to over £15,000.

Gav and myself simply put on the events, the superb total is due to our incredibly generous regulars who are only occasionally forced to donate. Fund raising events are already planned for some of the year. An Easter raffle with numerous prizes (not all chocolate), tickets available from mid-march onwards. Our fifth anniversary BBQ will be on Sunday June 21^st, 12noon to 9pm and the August Bank holiday BBQ on the 30^th of August. There will be more events and activities organised during the year, dates to be arranged.

We are very much a community pub with no TV, no background music, slot machines or other distractions – the emphasis is on conversation and real ale. We also serve a wide range of other drinks and snacks including wines, ciders, spirits and soft drinks. Our opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 12 to 2ish and 6 to 9ish and Sunday lunchtime 12 to 3ish (Closed on Mondays). You are all welcome to our BBQ’s or just pop in any day for a drink (dogs included) and a chat.

 

Witten by Gary Pottle

The Copper Pottle