Bohemia Village Voice

Robin (holding cheque), Joan (holding Robin) & customers

Joan and Robin have been running the Drip (the Dripping Spring in Tower Road) for just over 18 months and they always have a weekly meat raffle. In June they were delighted to hand over £700 to St Michael’s Hospice. The money, which included an anonymous £100 donation all came from the raffle. “It was the pub customers who voted on what they wanted to do with the raffle money”, said Joan. “They decided that they wanted to splash out on a hog roast on D-Day and to donate the balance to St Michael’s”. “It was a really great day. The Hog Roast itself cost £500 and was really professionally done. They started cooking at 8am and it wasn’t until 4pm that it was ready; we had ‘ration books’ and dressed up in 40s outfits; local amateur group ‘Blue Moon’ played for nothing”. The meat for the raffle, insisted the Drip’s customers, must come from Ortons Butchers in Norman Road. Each week there are 13 prizes. “We often sell a whole book of tickets (500) at 20p each”. said Joan. “People write their names on the back of the tickets, so it doesn’t matter if they’re not there when the draw takes place”.
o The Dripping Spring is owned by national chain Enterprise Inns, which owns several hundred pubs; Joan and Robin are leaseholders. The Drip gets its beer via the Small Independent Brewers Assn, and buy from breweries in Scotland, Somerset, Kent and East Sussex.