Key events 1989 - 1991

1989

• Melvin Benn becomes WBC production manager.
• A new relationship is formed with Vince Power of the Mean Fiddler venue.
• WBC provides bars for his first festival venture at Reading. Reading Council had banned packaged drinks at events the previous year (due to bottle throwing) so we teamed up with brewers Ind Coope to provide a new system that dispensed cold draft drinks.
• There is a massive 70th birthday party for Nelson Mandela at Wembley Stadium and WBC is honoured to be asked to run the bars at the after-show party at the Natural History Museum.

1990

• WBC moves into festival promotion with the Mean Fiddler Group under the new 50:50 co-owned Winfield Promotions.
• Our first Fleadh in Finsbury Park has a great line-up of Irish and international starts playing to a crowd of 40,000.
• The increased income allows WBC, in a partnership with trade union NALGO, to fund Shona Methven as a full-time paid campaigner for BWTUC.

Shona Methven with Alf Dubbs MP for Battersea and Rory Budds and Eamon Pryle from the management committee

1991

• Another busy year for WBC running bars at the Fleadh, Glastonbury and Gay Pride in Kennington Park.

Next: Key events 1992 - 1994