Rotherham biker launches town's Real Ale festival

James Toseland is town to open the beer festival Credit: David Davies/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Rotherham motorbike champion James Toseland is today launching the town's Real Ale and Music Festival which opens to the public tomorrow.

He will join an elite team of brewers and beer connoisseurs to help determine the Champion Beer of Yorkshire.

The Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival is the largest event of its kind in the north and is expecting to receive more than 11,000 visitors.

Alongside a comprehensive selection of real ales, the festival will be heading to the 'Wild West', featuring guest beers from Lancashire, Cheshire and the South West. In total more than 250 real ales, each served using a traditional hand pump, will be available.

The festival will also feature approximately 100 wines, ciders and lagers chosen from around the World.

Watch this video from last year's Real Ale Festival

This year will mark the 21st anniversary of the event, and since relocating to Magna in 2011, the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival has raised in excess of £75,000 for local good causes and this year it will be supporting The Rotherham Hospice, Bluebell Wood Children's Hospital, Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity and the Magna Education Trust.