Home Food & Drink Lancashire Brewery Gives A Helping Hand at Me-Ale Time

Lancashire Brewery Gives A Helping Hand at Me-Ale Time

Lancashire Brewery Gives A Helping Hand at Me-Ale Time

Old School Brewery (OSB), based in Warton, North Lancashire, has just launched a special beer to help raise much needed funds for the Morecambe Bay Food Bank and to help raise awareness of food waste and food poverty in the region.

The new beer, produced by the Warton team is fittingly called Me-Ale Time, in recognition of the invaluable work the Food Bank performs in the community and the role this beer will play in supporting that work, with 10p from every pint sold going towards providing much needed funds to enable the Food Bank’s team of volunteers to carry out their vital work helping local families.

Hunger and food poverty might not seem like an issue to many, but that’s far from the truth… people can go hungry for a huge number of reasons; such as losing their jobs or having to pay an unexpected bill, especially if it happens to individuals and families on low incomes. You might not think that a simple box of food donated by a food bank makes a big difference, but it does… it can play a significant part in helping to prevent crime, housing loss, family breakdown and mental health problems…

Morecambe Bay Food Bank regularly helps over 1200 families each year, as well as providing nearly 6,000 emergency food packages to families in need from the 50 tonnes of food generously donated by supporters.


Catherine Walsh, Events Manager at Old School Brewery, regularly volunteers at the Morecambe Bay Food Bank, so it’s no surprise that the team at OSB wanted to get involved and lend a helping hand and do something to help sustain the vital work that the Food Bank team carry out every day supporting local families in need.

After a little bit of discussion, the OSB team hit on the idea of created a special beer to help raise funds and support the charity long term. Head brewer Garth Whittaker put his thinking cap on and after a bit of experimentation came up with a brew based on an English pale ale.

Made with Pioneer and Challenger hops, Me-Ale Time delivers bags of flavour with aromas of lemon and grapefruit alongside spicy notes of cedar and green tea nicely finished with a sweet floral flavour delivering a refreshing, rounded beer with a crisp and fruity character, which is already going down well with the punters…

Me-Ale is currently being supplied to a number of pubs across Lancashire and Cumbria; including The Merchants, Lancaster, The Longlands Hotel, Carnforth, The Exchange Morecambe, The Old Black Bull, Preston and the Factory Tap, Kendal.
Catherine Walsh, from Old School Brewery, commented: ‘’We wanted to do our bit to contribute to the local community and support the work of Morecambe Bay Foodbank as it’s a great cause and is a vital lifeline for many people living in the Bay Area. Me-ale Time is already proving popular with around 20 landlords stocking it so far. 10p from every pint they sell will go to the Morecambe Bay Food Bank and on top of that we are also making is available at our monthly open nights as well, which will also boost sales for this great cause.’’

Annette Smith, from Morecambe Bay Food Bank, said: ‘’People from all walks of life can find themselves with no other option other than to get a referral for their local food bank. All you have to do is watch the news to see why the rise in the need for food banks is increasing. The rise in food poverty in the UK, means that more and more people are going hungry, which is ironic when you consider that more than one third of all food produced is wasted. The majority of our non-perishable food is donated via through the generosity of the general public, which is supplemented with fresh produce that we gather from local food surplus. Food banks help capture this surplus and rescue perfectly edible food before it is discarded. Me-Ale Time will support us in our work helping those in need in our local communities through the Bay area. Food poverty is all too pervasive in our society, we are grateful to the Old School Brewery Team for wanting to make a make a difference and to try and address this issue.’’