I attended THE British Beard championships on the weekend. This was my first ever competition. The comp started back in 2012 in Brighton, this year it was in Liverpool. I travelled from Bristol to attend.

It is now one of the biggest in the world coming second to the one in the USA. People come from all corners of the globe , although mainly Europe. I was the only one who was entering from Australia. 

Hundreds of hairy hopefuls like myself battled it out in 20 categories including Musketeer, Amish/Whaler, Handlebar, Fake and Freestyle. They even have a category for women & children.

Upon entering the amazing St Georges Hall my beard was measured for the first time. It was right on 12inches. It meant I had a few categories I could choose from. one being full natural beard over 12 inches with styled moustache , or full natural beard under twelve inches with styled moustache. Although I don’t normally style my moustache I thought I would for the special occasion. I was going to go into over 12 inches styled moustache but learnt there were only two other competitors in that category. That meant I had a guaranteed place. I thought theres not much fun in that so entered into the one with 15 other men.

 Although I didn’t get a place, I had a really great weekend which starts on the friday at the pre party, continues all day saturday well into the night, and then another gathering on the sunday. People gathered from all around the world and there were around 150 competing.

 I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t get a place as I got to meet a lot of really interesting people including my idol Michael Legge who is the current British championship holder. Liverpool is also a city I’ve wanted to visit since moving to the UK its a great vibrant, beautiful city with a lot of interesting history.