No — not the old Lonnie Donnegan number but a great offer that proved ever so popular for County Instruments (Raw Brass) at the National Brass Band Championships in Cheltenham last weekend.

Reward

As a reward for taking time and making an effort to ‘test drive’ either a Ray Farr Signature Raw Brass flugel or cornet, players of all calibre were offered a free pint of their chosen tipple (under 18 had a choice of a pint of non alcoholic beverage!)

Chris Waters, the Design Engineer responsible for the unique Raw Brass instruments said he had realised there was a risk of the offer being abused, but as it transpired, the people coming to the stand did so more out of a desire to try and instrument than to get a free drink.

Awareness

"I was a bit apprehensive at first," said Chris. "However, I would say more than 90% of people coming to the stand were prompted by the awareness of the flugel and cornet from the media or word of mouth than the free drink on offer."

We had a wonderful response and success, so we might have to try it all againDesign Engineer, Chris Waters

Paid off

And the mouth-watering offer of the chance to try out the great Raw Brass instruments certainly paid off too.

"We had a wonderful response and success, so we might have to try it all again," he said.