Taste buds tested by mystery cocktail at Greenbelt Festival

A giant banana served a mystery cocktail to festival-goers visiting the USPG stall at this year's Greenbelt Festival.

The challenge was to identify the three ingredients making up the mystery drink, with prizes up for grabs, and festival-goers were presented with free booklets containing non-alcoholic cocktail recipes and information about how USPG supports the mission of Anglican Churches around the world.

Hundreds took up the challenge. They sniffed, slurped and cogitated before submitting their answers. And some even got it right.

The ingredients were: cranberry, bitter lemon and blackcurrant. Entrants were asked to name the mystery cocktail, and the judges chose the winners according to their favourites name.

One of the more ingenious suggestions - although not from a prize winner - was 'Gene Robinson's Squash' in tribute to Greenbelt the American bishop, who was speaking at the festival.

Other suggested names were Sermon on the Beach, Very Berry Fiz, James Bond's Night off, Yum Yum, Bitter but Blessed, Mission Mix, Perky Prayer, Peace Explosion, Lifexciter, Anglican Revenge, The Greenbelt Teaser, Green Angel Surprise and Bombastical Whizz-Pop Bang!

In the category for 18s and over, the winners of cocktail sets were Michael Davis, Mrs D Paddick and Carolyn Gilmore.

In the under-18s category, winners of iTunes vouchers were Elliott Groocock, Evie Dodge and James Heath.

All prize-winners will receive their prizes in the post.

Greenbelt Festival is held every August Bank Holiday at Cheltenham Racecourse, offering a wide range of Christian-themed speakers, music and art from around the world.

USPG event organiser Bola Sofela said: 'This year's Greenbelt was a lot of fun. The sun shone, most of the time, and everyone seemed to have a smile on their face.

'We had tons of visitors to our stall. It was great to see familiar faces from previous festivals and to meet new people too. We wanted to enter into the carnival spirit of the festival, and let people know a little bit more about the vital work we are supporting.'

Youngsters Daisy and Millie Holland, of London, guessed two of the three cocktail ingredients. Looking around the USPG stall, complete with inflatable palm trees, Millie said: 'We like the bright colours.' And sipping the mystery cocktail, Daisy added: 'I like free drinks!'

• Why not host a non-alcoholic cocktail party and raise funds for USPG and world mission? You can order copies of our Cocktails with a Mission recipe booklet to give away to party-goers. Email enquiries@uspg.org.uk or phone 0845 273 1701.

Posted on 02.09.2009