Weston-super-Mare Lions issue apology over political sponsorship at Real Ale Festival

Weston-super-Mare Lions Club have issued an apology after last weekend's charity Real Ale Festival included sponsorship by political parties and groups.

The event offered the opportunity to "sponsor a barrel" and dozens of businesses and organisations took part

However, Reform, Liberal Democrats and the Conservative Party were all permitted to sponsor a barrel in a potential breach of Charity Commission rules.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We are currently assessing concerns about alleged political activity by Weston-super-Mare Lions Club CIO to determine what, if any, role there is for the Commission.”

Paul Middleton, President of Weston-super-Mare Lions said; "The Weston-super-Mare Lions would like to apologise unreservedly for any offence taken with the barrel sponsorship from the Reform, Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties. It was very naïve of us to take this sponsorship and will not happen again.

It was never our intention to align with or promote any political agenda. The sponsorship was accepted without fully considering the broader implications and how it might be interpreted. we now recognise that maintaining political impartiality is crucial.

We take full responsibility for this oversight and the impact it may have had. Moving forward, we will implement clearer guidelines and more rigorous evaluation processes to ensure that all partnerships align with our values and uphold the trust placed in us.

We are also refunding all monies taken for their sponsorship.

Thank you to those who voiced their concerns, your feedback is important, and we remain committed to learning from this and doing better.

We would also like to thank all other 250+ sponsors and those that attended the event for making it such a fantastic weekend,"

Brigitte Green, Lions Club National Headquarters Manager said; "Lions Clubs across the UK – and globally – is a strictly non-political and non-religious organisation. This principle is core to our identity and operations, and it is a condition of our constitution that we do not endorse, support, or align ourselves with any political party or religious group.

Weston-super-Mare Lions Club have a long tradition of organising the local beer festival and do so very successful raising funds for the local community, and we will be investigating the situation internally to ensure that our policies and values have been upheld.

Lions Clubs are run by local volunteers, and while we rely on those volunteers to help run community events and raise money for charitable causes, all volunteers and any partnership/sponsoring organisations must adhere to our rules regarding neutrality."