January 27, 2016

Brussels, MEP’s & The World’s Biggest Pub Quiz

By
image

with Gerald Michaluk, Chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers Association (SIBA) Scottish Section and owner of Arran Brewery

Last night I was at Brewers of Europe House in Brussels, for the “Celebration of Beers from Scotland” event (I am a quarter Scottish after all and yes, I grew a beard for the occasion !). I was kindly invited by Paul Hegarty, Honorary Secretary of The British Pub & Beer Group in the European Parliament and he asked me to say a few words on behalf of PubAid, in the context of the money that UK pubs raise for charity and the opportunity to get people involved.

Paul suggested I attend this event because he knows that one of Team Margot’s key wishes is to see the creation of a Virtual Register for the Rest of the World and he regarded this event as a good way for me to meet some MEP’s and to begin to understand the politics of Europe.

I sit on the board of PubAid, which is a volunteer organisation that heralds the great work UK pubs do for charity by raising over £100m each year. The basic message is: “pubs do good” – they’re an integral part of British culture and a part of what makes Britain GREAT. You can’t under-estimate the place pubs have in the very fabric of our society.

From the moment we launched Margot’s appeal, pubs and more specifically, the wonderful people in the pub industry have been hugely supportive of Team Margot, so it was easy for me to introduce our charity and to explain first hand what we are about, given the fantastic support we have from the pub sector.

Screen Shot 2016-01-27 at 09.03.20

This year, on Sunday 7 February starting at 7:30pm, PubAid is running what is being billed as “The World’s BIGGEST pub quiz”. At last count: 1,334 pubs will be participating and it’s estimated that perhaps up to 75,000 people will be actually taking part in the pub quiz.

Brilliant, because many of the 1,300+ pubs are pledging to raise money for over 800 charities (and these are just the ones that we are aware of) and PubAid has teamed up with JustGiving to help make the fundraising efforts as easy as possible.

Fancy a cup of tea instead ?

Fancy a cup of tea instead ?

We have no way of knowing how much money will be raised for so many different charities on Sunday 7 February, but the sense of fun and charity on this scale is fabulous.

There’s still time to get your local pub involved and for you to join in ! To find out how, please visit: http://worldsbiggestquiz.pubaid.com

Team Margot
Together, saving lives

Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)

Posted in: Journal