OK, so the weather is pretty up and down at the moment but all fingers are being crossed that Wednesday 31 May will be sunny. Why? Because it's the UP Front English Real Ale Festival - just the thing to get us all in the mood for the World Cup.

The England team play Hungary the night before, so hopefully we'll be in the mood to celebrate down at Fat Boy's. OK, so you're not all English, but gimme us break!

Kick-off time for the beer festival is noon on the Wednesday - and we'll be running it all day and evening. If there's any beer left we'll open again at noon on Thursday for a couple of hours.

The event will be opened by MEP and qualified referee Chris Heaton-Harris - complete with ref's outfit and red card in case anyone serves a duff pint (ie the UP Front editor)!

Weather permitting, there will also be a barbecue outside.

Admission is free, but the beer will be paid for via a ticket system - eg buy four tickets for ten euro, which entitles you to four halves or two pints.

All proceeds will go to charity as MEP Godfrey Bloom has told UP Front that he does not want reimbursing for the cost of the beer and shipping. This is a fantastic gesture by Godfrey and two worthy charities will benefit back in the UK.

MEP Nigel Farage will also be around and has even threatened to work a shift behind the bar.

So, the details.

Match: English Ale vs The Rest of The World
Venue: Fat Boy's, noon, Wednesday 31 May
Teams: Timothy Taylor's Landord Bitter, Black Sheep Bitter, Old Mill Brewery Bitter, Old Mill Mild
Capacity: 36 gallons of luverly real ale

Referee: Chris Heaton-Harris
Linesmen: Godfrey Bloom and Nigel Farage
Fourth officials: You lot!

OK, so we won't really be kicking any footballs but we'll certainly be flying the flag for Ing-Er-Land! So come on down and spread the word...