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TRANSCRIPT
Minutes
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To: East Anglia Region
From: Andrea Briers
CC: NE, RDs
Subject: Minutes of the East Anglia Regional Meeting, November 2018
Date: 18th
December 2018
Status: For Information
Please find below the minutes of the meeting held in November 2018
Summary of Key Points not otherwise noted in Action Minutes
a. Pub/Club of the Year Deadlines 2019
Pub of the Year
Branch Winner to RD and County Competition Organiser:- Sunday17th March
County Winner to RD and Regional Competition Organiser:- Sunday 19th May (It should be
noted that the Regional Competition Organiser may require scores before the 19th May to
allow time to collate the results.)
Region to National Organiser:- Sunday 11th August
Cider Pub of the Year 2019
Branch Winner to County Competition Organiser and RCC:- Sunday 17th March County Winner to RCC:- Sunday 21st April Regional Winner to National Coordinator:- Sunday 19th May
Club of the Year 2019
Branch Winner to RD: - Sunday 17th March
b. Contact Details for Branches
Whilst this will not always be possible, there has been a recommendation that the Branch Contact and Branch Chair be separate people. This has been recommended to try to avoid a situation where important correspondence is missed due to a single person holding both these posts not being in a position to receive and distribute it.
c. Value Added Tax
Following discussions with HMRC, it was determined that the VAT Threshold of £85,000 applies to all turnover within any 12 month period. Beware, this means that having annual Beer Festivals means that there can frequently be two within such a 12 month period. The recommendation is to register if your turnover reaches £40000. If you have any queries, please contact the RD or the Regional Finance Officer.
d. Branch Accounts
HMRC requirement is that all branches liable for VAT submit their returns electronically by a system which has been approved by them, such as COBAS.
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The Campaign for Real Ale Ltd
East Anglia Region
Minutes of the Regional Meeting,
The Arcade Street Tavern, Ipswich
Saturday 17th
November 2018, noon
Present
Andrea Briers AB (West Norfolk), Regional Director RD Ian Bailey IB (West Norfolk), Minutes Nick Boley NB (West Suffolk and Borders), National Executive Graham Darby GD (Hertfordshire Essex Borders), Essex Area Organiser Dan Maycock DM (Cambridge & District), Regional Young Members Coordinator RCC Chris Rouse CR (North West Essex) – Deputy Regional Director & Regional Cider Coordinator Nigel Smith NS (Ipswich & East Suffolk), Suffolk Area Organiser Ian Stamp IS (Norwich & Norfolk), Deputy Regional Brewery Liaison Coordinator Martin Ward MW (Norwich & Norfolk), Norfolk Area Organiser & GBBF Winter Organiser Stephen Maycock SM and DPH Teddy (Cambridge & District) Claire & Doug Irons CI & DI & Luke Keatley-Clarke LKC (Chelmsford & Mid Essex) Brendan Sothcott BS (Hertfordshire Essex Borders) Graham Mulchinock GM (Huntingdonshire) Alan Crampton AC, Chris Kenworthy CK and Mike Lewis ML (Ipswich & East Suffolk) Roger Stokes RS (North Bedfordshire) Ian Stamp IS (Norwich & Norfolk) Dickie Bird DB Peterborough & District) Alan Barker AB (South West Essex) Graham Pettit GP, (Tendring) Jeff Hoyle JH (West Norfolk)
1 Introduction and Welcome RD offered her thanks for coming.
2 Apologies Received
Clive Coole (Cambridge & District) - Regional Finance Officer, Mike Coombes (South Bedfordshire) - Bedfordshire Area Organiser, Oliva Fernandez OF (Norwich & Norfolk) - Regional Brewery Liaison Coordinator BLC, John Goodlet (East Bedfordshire), Andy Blagborough, Richard Harrison and Ray London (Huntingdonshire), Chris Harvey (Maldon & Dengie), David Williamson (Mid Anglia), Mike & Linda Davey and Chris Luck (North East Suffolk), John Crowhurst- Regional Public Transport Coordinator, Les Middlewood and Brian Page (South Hertfordshire) and Peter Butler (Tendring). Also Ian Charlton.
3 Minutes of Meeting on 2nd
June 2018
a. Accuracy
OK
b. Matters arising not on the Agenda
None
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c. Action Minutes from Previous Meeting
Action Section Detail Who Status
1.
9a
July 17
3c.A3
Social Media:- liaise as to how to assist Branches with
making social media user friendly and, once complete,
arrange for this to be circulated to other regions.
DM/RD Ongoing
2. 17
July 17
Camraear:- please ensure that at least two members of
the branch committee are signed up to the regional yahoo
group, camraear.
Committee
Members not
yet enlisted
Ongoing
3.
3c
action 19
(Nov 17)
Camraear Membership:- let branches know who is
registered for their own Branch. CR Ongoing
4. 5iii
Yahoo Group/Google Groups: Work on updates to
improve the camraear yahoo group and investigate other
options.
CR Ongoing
5. 5iii Discourse:- investigate how this system might be useful to
the Region. DM Close
6. 7b Activation – Contact relevant committees in relation to
improved communication with Publicans/ Club Officials. NS/RD Done
7. 7b
Contacting publicans using comms tool: RD/CR to
establish whether it would be possible to arrange for
branches to contact publicans using the comms tool.
RD/CR Done
8. 9a
Ensure inspected branch and beer festival accounts are
submitted to the Finance department at HQ
([email protected]), the RD and the Regional
Finance Officer ([email protected]). Also, if
you have not yet done so, please forward any accounts
from the last 12 months. Failure to do so will now lead to
your requests for funds or approval for beer festivals being
refused.
Branches Ongoing
9. 11b
Clubs Committee Presentation to Regional Meetings;
Invite a member of Clubs Committee to a regional
meeting.
RD Done
10. 11c
Clubs Reciprocal Admission to CAMRA Festivals; Contact
relevant committees to suggest some sort of arrangement
allowing entry to CAMRA Festivals for CIU Affiliates in the
same way as CAMRA Members.
RD Done
11. 12iv BLO Performance - Raise the possibility of requesting
annual feedback on BLOs from branches. RD Done
12. 18a Branch AGM’s; ascertain their validity following changes
to distribution methods of What’s Brewing. RD Done
13. 18b Trade Marks for Festival Names; contact MW for advise if
you are interested in trade marking your festival name.
Interested
Branches
Move to
Long
Term
Business
14. 18c Problems with CAMRA Warehouse, Please report
problems to MW (copying in RD and LA)
Festivals
with such
Problems
Done
15. 19 Feb./March Meeting, arrange venue when date has been
confirmed. RS
Ongoing.
See note
16. 19 June/July Meeting, arrange venue when date has been
confirmed. MW Done
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Matters Arising and Explanations from Action Minutes Above not Otherwise
A2. Branches now to take the lead.
A3. RD/CR are aiming to try to complete list by the end of the year.
A4. Agenda item 18
A5. There are issues in using Discourse which need to be resolved before the system can be of assistance in
the region.
A6. Now with National Committees.
A7. Whilst this is technically possible, it is not available to Branches or Regions; even if it were, many
publicans are not identifiable on the system. CR noted that What Pub can be used to contact publicans but
access to do this is very limited. RD to ask IT Strategy if this facility could be opened up to branches/regions.
A9. Unfortunately Ian Charlton was unable to attend this meeting, but he intends to come along to our next
one.
A10. Agenda item 12.
A11: The Chair of the Brewery Liaison Advisory Group (BLAG) was contacted and responded that it was
easier for a BLC to keep track of BLOs and their efficiency and any vacancies or concerns rather than each
individual branch chair having to look after them. Ian Stamp also emailed BLAG about including a last report
submitted date on the BLC report and this is being investigated. If a branch has a problem with a BLO please
don’t hesitate to let Oli know and she will do her best to help
A 12: The concerns about some people who do not receive What’s Brewing have been raised nationally and
they are content that if an AGM is advertised in What’s Brewing, it should reach those who are interested in
receiving communications from the organisation.
A14. This was raised at Festivals Committee.
A15. Date changed to June/ July, due to problems with the proposed room not being available for the earlier
dates.
A16. The meeting in Norfolk has been confirmed for the 9th March,
4 Clubs Committee (I. Charlton)
Unfortunately Ian Charlton could not make this meeting, but intends to come to our next one.
5 RD Feedback from National Committees (see appended report)
a. Contact Details for Branches:- whilst this will not always be possible, there has been a recommendation that the Branch Contact and Branch Chair be separate people. This has been recommended to try to avoid a situation where important correspondence is missed due to a single person holding both these posts not being in a position to receive and distribute it.
b. Template Testing:- there is a request for a couple of branch officials who use the current document
templates to assist with testing the templates used for minutes, memos etc to identify any issues and improvements before any enhancements are released. If you are interested in helping please let the RD know.
c. Certificates are available from HQ and can be ordered using a portal which gives you the opportunity
to see what it looks like before you submit your order
d. See also agenda item 9.
6 Campaigning
West Suffolk reported that they ran an ‘Awareness Event’ at the reopening of Bury St. Edmunds
refurbished Guildhall. This went well enough to encourage them to run a repeat event at Bury’s
Christmas Market. It was suggested that teaming up with similar organisations to increase awareness of
CAMRA could be useful.
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7. Activation
a. Beer Festivals:- these are still seen as the main source; both of new members and of having tasks
suitable for newcomers.
b. Discourse:- it was suggested that some of those who post on Discourse could help in relation to
certain aspects of the campaign in which they are interested.
c. Initiatives from Branch Level:- Sometimes, good ideas which are suggested are fed to national
committees but, because there is no central location to collate them, are forgotten about after a period
of time. The RD offered to look in to what can be done to prevent this. The possibility of AGM
workshops was mentioned.
d. Beer Scoring:- Chelmsford reported that, by offering entry into a (sponsored) Prize Draw for entering
scores into the system, they noticeably increased their quantity of scores received.
e. See also 10b (Young Members).
8. Pub & Club of the Year Competitions
NB all deadlines are the end of the day quoted.
a. Pub of the Year
2019 Competition deadlines:
Branch Winner to RD and County Competition Organiser:- Sunday17th March
County Winner to RD and Regional Competition Organiser:- Sunday 19th May (It should be
noted that the Regional Competition Organiser may require scores before the 19th May to
allow time to collate the results.)
Region to National Organiser:- Sunday 11th August
2018 Competition:- feedback has been collected from judges and the RD will circulate this for
feedback in advance of the next Regional Meeting. Thanks were expressed to BS for organising our
new on-line scoring system, both from the RD and the judges involved. The feedback has been very
positive.
The 2018 Regional Pub of the Year Certificates will be presented to The Chequers, Little Gransden
on 24th November. The pub has also reached the final four in the competition and their certificate for
being a finalist will be presented on the same day.
b. Cider Pub of the Year 2019
Competition Deadlines:
Branch Winner to County Competition Organiser and RCC:- Sunday 17th March
County Winner to RCC:- Sunday 21st April
Regional Winner to National Coordinator:- Sunday 19th May
c. Club of the Year 2019
Competition Deadlines: Branch Winner to RD: - Sunday 17
th March
Regional Winner to National Organiser:- Sunday 11th August
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9. Finances
a. Value Added Tax:- following discussions with HMRC, it was determined that the VAT Threshold of
£85,000 applies to all turnover within any 12 month period. Beware, this means that having annual
Beer Festivals means that there can frequently be two within such a 12 month period. The
recommendation is to register if your turnover reaches £40000. If you have any queries please
contact the RD or the Regional Finance Officer.
b. Branch Accounts:- another HMRC requirement is that all branches liable for VAT submit their returns
electronically by a system which has been approved by them, such as COBAS.
c. Accounting Year End – National:- Nationally, the campaign will be changing the end of its financial
year from the end of December to the end of November from 2019. Whilst this will not affect Branch
Accounting periods (please do not change them on account of this), the Annual Financial Return will
be required a month earlier from next year.
d. Joint Festivals (whether CAMRA is a partner or merely a sub contractor):- A formal agreement needs to be in place to clarify the responsibilities of the various parties. This should make the resolution of any problems in the future more straightforward. A basic ‘in association’ template form is available on the website (or contact CR for information).
10. Regional Young Members Coordinator (see appended report)
a. The next social/meeting will be in held in Cambridge on 8th December to coincide with the forthcoming
National Executive/Regional Directors (NERD) weekend.
b. Succession:- Young Members Group have identified an almost total lack of succession planning as a
potential weakness in CAMRA. Planning for non-availability of post holders was included in this.
Suggestions made to combat this included the use of shadow posts (eg Deputy… or Vice….) in order
to give a flavour of a job. A ‘softly-softly’ type of approach can be useful, allowing somebody to stick
with that which they feel confident. An improved style of ‘requirements of the job’ could be useful, not
just a National Job Description’ but also ‘how we do it’ and much improved handover documentation.
RD to raise succession planning at national level. To counter this, it was noted that many Branches
continue to report difficulties filling posts whether demanding or ‘minor’ roles.
c. Thanks were offered to DM for his work.
d. Champion Beer of East Anglia competition:- younger members are encouraged to join these judging
panels. If you want to arrange tastings at an event (festival) of your choice, see BLC report, agenda
item 13 for details.
11. Regional Pubs Officer
a. Beer Guide Entries, Cask Breathers:- NS was reassured that the GBG form had been amended to take
into account the motion passed at the recent National AGM.
b. The Land Registry database, for checking pub ownership in England and Wales, has moved. Details of
the new location and updated instructions on how to search this database can be found
on https://pubs.camra.org.uk/landregistry.
12. Regional Clubs Officer
a. Subject to Budget approval, a Clubs Officers Workshop is due to take place at Dartford Working Mens
Club on the 18th May 2019.
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b. A number of suggestions were made on CAMRA’s marketing of clubs. These included a CAMRA
discount on ‘day membership’ and a ‘club status’ entry on WhatPub to indicate who is permitted
admission - eg ‘members only’, CAMRA members admitted’, ‘affiliations to groupings of clubs (eg CIU)’
or ‘all welcome’. RD to raise this nationally.
c. (Subsequent to the meeting the RD received a text from the Regional Clubs Officer indicating that he is
standing down because he is unable to devote the time required to the role.)
13. Brewery Liaison Coordinator (see appended report)
a. OF asked that thanks be passed on to branches that have been very helpful updating BIS with new
breweries, letting her know about some of them closing and helping her to find BLOs.
b. There are quite a few breweries in need of a BLO which will be listed in the next East Anglia report.
If you can help, or know someone who might be interested in one of these BLC roles, please get in
touch with OF.
c. Non Reporting BLO’s (from last month), it was noted that emails requesting quarterly reports do not
always reliably get through to BLO’s.
d. Beer Packaging (eg ‘conventional bottles’, ‘real ale casks’, ‘keg only’):- It was felt that what
containers beers are available in should be included in the Brewery Information System. IS to take
forward. In the meantime, it was suggested that BLO’s could note this information on the entry
e. Paul Moorhouse is looking for venues to hold the competitions for Champion Beer of East Anglia, the
rounds which lead in to the Champion Beer of Britain and the Champion Winter Beer of Britain.
Could any branches or beer festivals that are willing to run a competition in the coming rounds please let Paul know by emailing [email protected], with an indication of any preferred category, as soon as possible. The Area competitions can give an extra focus for a festival or event and generate publicity Many thanks to the organisers of this year’s competitions at CAMRA beer festivals in Colchester, Stevenage, Chelmsford, Cambridge, Chappel, St Albans, Norwich and Watford.
f. The meeting was asked if there was any strong objection to announcing the winners of the rounds of
Champion Beer of East Anglia at the conclusion of each round, rather than waiting for the final round
to be judged. No objections were raised, the RD will inform Paul Moorhouse.
14. Cider (see appended report)
a. Nothing further discussed.
15. Regional Public Transport Coordinator (see appended report)
No further discussion.
16. Branch Reports (reports attached below)
Beer Festival Figures:- Chris Harvey had suggested that it would be useful for branches to include comparisons between their festival performance in the current and previous year(s) to help other branches in the region plan ahead. It was agreed that information on percentage changes in attendances and wet sales would be useful.
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17. Forthcoming CAMRA Beer Festivals
Watford Beer Festival, 8-10 November 2018 [Watford & District]
Cambridge Beer Festival Winter, 14-17 November 2018 [Cambridge & District]
Harwich & Parkeston Winter Ale Festival, 21-24 November 2018 [Tendring]
Rochford Beer & Cider Festival, 21-24 November 2018 [South East Essex]
Elysian Winter Beer Festival, 24-26 January 2019 [Ely & District]
Colchester Winter Ale Festival, 30 Jan - 2 Feb 2019 [Colchester & North East Essex]
**CANCELLED** Bishop's Stortford Beer Festival, 1-2 Feb 2019 [Herts & Essex Borders]
NATIONAL: GBBFW, 19-23 February 2019 [Norwich & Norfolk]
Chelmsford Winter Beer & Cider Festival, 20-23 February 2019 [Chelmsford & Mid-Essex]
Chappel Winter Beer Festival, 1-2 March 2019 ["Essex Branches of CAMRA"]
St Neots 'Booze on the Ouse' Beer & Cider Festival, 14-16 March 2019 [Huntingdonshire]
NATIONAL: Members Weekend and AGM, Dundee, 5-7 April 2019
Maldon Beer & Cider Festival, 10-13 April 2019 [Maldon and Dengie]
East Anglian Beer & Cider Festival, Bury St Edmunds, 1-4 May 2019 [West Suffolk]
Cambridge Beer Festival, 20-25 May 2019 [Cambridge & District]
Colchester Summer Real Ale & Cider Festival, 28 May - 1 June 2019 [Colchester & North East Essex]
Thurrock Beer & Cider Festival, 4-8 June 2019 [South West Essex]
Hitchin Beer & Cider Festival, 6-8 June 2019 [North Hertfordshire]
Braintree Real Ale Festival, 13-15 June 2019 [North West Essex]
Gibberd Garden Beer Festival, Harlow, 15-16 June 2019 [Herts & Essex Borders]
Chelmsford Summer Beer & Cider Festival, 2-6 July 2019 [Chelmsford & Mid-Essex]
NATIONAL: GBBF, 6-10 August 2019
Peterborough Beer Festival, 20-24 August 2019 [Peterborough & District]
Clacton-on-Sea Real Ale & Cider Festival, 21-24 August 2019 [Tendring]
Chappel Beer Festival, 3-7 September 2019 ["Essex Branches of CAMRA"]
St Albans Beer & Cider Festival, 25-28 September 2019 [South Hertfordshire]
Bedford Beer & Cider Festival, 2-5 October 2019 [North Bedfordshire]
South Woodham Ferrers Beer & Cider Festival, 3-5 October 2019 [Maldon and Dengie]
*TBC* St Ives 'Booze on the Ouse' Beer & Cider Festival, 17-19 October 2019 [Huntingdonshire]
Norwich Beer Festival, 21-26 October 2019 [Norwich & Norfolk]
Harwich & Parkeston Winter Ale Festival, 20-23 November 2019 [Tendring]
More details are available on http://www.eastanglia.camra.org.uk/festivals
Please let Chris Rouse ([email protected]) know your festival dates as soon as they have been
confirmed so that an up to date list can be provided for publicity purposes.
GBBF Winter:- MW reported that publicity material is now available.
18. Any Other Business
a. Lost Passwords- It was noted that some people had difficulty logging on to the membership system and
Pub of the Year score sheet. If you have lost your password, you will receive a prompt on the log in
screen of the national website “Forgotten password or set up a new password” when you use the wrong
password. If you click on this link and follow the instructions you will be able to change your password
and access the site and score sheet. If you have any problems, the membership department at Head
Office will be able to assist.
b. Dragon Drinks, a wholesaler, have ceased trading. (subsequent to the meeting information was received
that they are still trading and have been taken over by Lilly’s Cider)
Page | 9
c. Greene King Brewery Open Day:- NB reported that they hope to hold an open day for East Anglian
CAMRA members. It would be on a midweek daytime and include a more in-depth tour than the public
see. GK asked that we notify the membership at large. It was noted that the timing of the visit, whilst
suitable for those who were not in employment, could make it difficult for those still working, including
some younger members, to attend. RD/NB to liaise to take forward.
d. Pub Companies/Campaigning:- In answer to a request from IS, RD replied that matters are in hand with
Pubs Campaigns in relation to issues relating to pub companies..
e. Greene King Tied Houses, Guest Beers:- these come into two categories, tenancies have a relatively free
hand if beers can be turned over to keep in condition but managed houses are under a much stricter
regime over what can be sold.
f. Banking Scams:- GM reported on one where personal details included were almost sufficient to convince
him it looked genuine. RD to pass on information to alert other branches.
g. Campaigning Materials:- various festivals/branches report a lack of them. NB replied that those at his level
were aware of the concerns being raised and matters are in hand.
h. New CAMRA Chief Executive, on being asked about progress, NB replied that ‘matters are in hand’.
i. Yahoo Group:- the Regional one (camraear) is to disseminate Official Business. A problem is that not
enough people in some Branches receive these emails. It was recommended that, as a default, all
essential Branch positions be represented by their CAMRA position addresses (eg
[email protected]). Positions mentioned were Chairman, Secretary, Branch Contact and
Pubs Campaigning. For those Branches not using such addresses, CR can set ‘dummy addresses’ which
can be used
19. Date and Venue of Next Meetings
9th March 2019, Lacon’s Brewery, Great Yarmouth
June/July 2019, Bedfordshire, RS volunteered to help with arrangements (subsequent to the
meeting the date was confirmed as the 1st June at the Flitwick Club)
RD having thanked both the venue and the local meeting organisers, meeting closed 3.30 pm.
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Actions From this Meeting:
Action Section Detail Who
1.
9a
July 17
& 3c.A3
June 18
Social Media:- liaise as to how to assist Branches with making social
media user friendly and, once complete, arrange for this to be
circulated to other regions.
DM/RD
2. 17
July 17
Camraear:- please ensure that at least two members of the branch
committee are signed up to the regional yahoo group, camraear. Branches
3.
3c
action 19
Nov 17
Camraear Membership:- let branches know who is registered for their
own Branch. CR
4. 5iii
June 18
Yahoo Group/Google Groups: Work on updates to improve the
camraear yahoo group and investigate other options. CR
5.
9a
June 18
Ensure inspected branch and beer festival accounts are submitted to
the Finance department at HQ ([email protected]), the
RD and the Regional Finance Officer ([email protected]).
Also, if you have not yet done so, please forward any accounts from
the last 12 months. Failure to do so will now lead to your requests for
funds or approval for beer festivals being refused.
Branches
6. 19
June 18 June/July Meeting, arrange venue when date has been confirmed. RS
7. 3cA7 Contacting Publicans, raise the possibility of branches/regions using
What Pub to contact publicans with IT Strategy RD
8. 5b
Document Template Testing, If you are interested in assisting in
testing templates for national memos, agendas etc. please contact
the RD.
Those
Interested
9. 7c
Activation initiatives from Branch level:- investigate what can be
done to feed ideas efficiently into National Committees and retain the
information for future post holders.
RD
10. 8a Pub of the Year Feedback, circulate in advance of next meeting. RD
11. 10b Discussion of Succession Planning, raise this at national level. RD
12. 12b Raise the possibility of working with clubs to offer CAMRA discounts
on ‘day memberships’
RD
13. 12b Raise the possibility of including entry conditions for clubs in What
Pub.
RD
14. 13d Beer Packaging Style:- request identification of containers used for
real ale by breweries on BIS IS
15. 18c Greene King Open Day, liaise to make arrangements for members to
visit brewery. RD/NB
16. 18f Banking Scams: Pass on information to other regions. RD
If you have any concerns or queries please don't feel that you need to wait until the regional meeting. Please
contact the RD and she will do her best to help
Contacts
Regional Director:- Andrea Briers,( [email protected]), Telephone 01553 766904
Deputy Regional Director:- Chris Rouse ([email protected]), Telephone 01799 531582 (h), 07824
726108 (m).
Regional Finance Officer:- Clive Coole, ([email protected]), Telephone 01223 411116.
Regional Cider Coordinator:- Chris Rouse ([email protected]), Telephone 01799 531582 (h), 07824
726108 (m).
Regional Young Members Coordinator:- Dan Maycock ([email protected]), Telephone . 07910 740509
Regional Clubs Officer:- Post Vacant
Brewery Liaison Coordinator- Oliva Fernandez ([email protected])
Page | 11
Long Term Business
Campaigning
Action Section Detail Who
1.
3.c.1
(Jun 08)
Activation:
Branches should feed back to the Regional Director:-
Any ideas to activate the membership
Any initiatives which have worked in their area
In order that the RD can share them with other branches.
Branches /
RD
2. 4b
(Jun 12)
Lobby planning authorities to ensure their local plans include strong pub
protection policies when they review their planning guidelines. Branches
3.
4b (Feb
14)
Ensure that membership stands at beer festivals area are well located and,
where possible, appropriately manned
Beer
Festivals
4.
6b
(Jun 15)
Make contact with PubCo Regional Development Mangers if possible Branches
5.
10b
Nov 17
National/Regional Inventory Pubs:- let Paul Ainsworth know of any Planning
applications concerning them ALL
Branch Administration
Action Section Detail Who
1. 3.c.2
(Jun 08)
Ensure branch meetings and events are entered into the What’s Brewing Diary
Section. Any meetings and events up to the 10th of the month should also be
inserted into the previous month’s diary section and maybe submitted up to 2
months ahead.
Branches
2. 13.d
(Nov 10)
When contacting HQ please contact the relevant person directly. If you are
unsure who to contact use “Getting the most from CAMRA HQ” to find out who
to contact or ask the RD who will guide you in the right direction.
All
3. 6
(Nov 11)
Branch minutes are internal CAMRA correspondence and are not for
publication. Please ensure that, if they are put on to your branch website, that
they are only available to members.
Branches
4. 12
(Feb 13)
Submit branch reports for the regional meeting to RD 2 weeks in advance of
meeting for distribution. Branches
5. Nov.
2016
Ensure that branch AGM’s are publicised in What’s Brewing, giving the
appropriate notice 28 days notice. Branches
6.
9b
Nov 17
Branch Young Member Contacts, let Dan Maycock know about new contacts
Branch
(Young
Member
Contacts)
7. 18b
LTB
Trade Marks for Festival Names; contact MW for advise if you are interested in
trade marking your festival name.
Interested
Branches
Page | 12
Finance
Action Section Detail Who
1. 3.c.16
(Nov 08)
Beer Festival Budgets. Ensure copies are sent to RD, RFO, CAMRA HQ
Finance Office and Beer Festival Assessor
Festival
Finance
Officers
2. 4.11
(Nov 09)
Any new publication of books for sale requires to be approved by the scrutineer
system. A form can be found on the national website.
Branch
‘Publishers’
3. 7.a,b
(Jun 10)
Accounts must be properly inspected in advance of AGM and presented at the
meeting. If you are having problems finding suitable inspectors, contact the
RD or Regional Finance Officer for help.
Branches
4. 8a (Apr
17) COBAS; on line training is available from [email protected]. RD
5. 4b (Apr
17)
Beer Festivals running in competition to CAMRA, please let RD know if any of
these impact on the profits from our beer festivals ALL
6. 4a
July 17
Branch Equipment Storage:- Please inform the RD of current costs for storing
your equipment.
Relevant
Branches
7. 8a
July 17
Transfer funds to central funds. Surplus funds raised at beer festival should be
forwarded as soon as possible after the festival. If more convenient, an initial
sum should be forwarded with the balance being sent once the festival
finances have been finalised.
Branches
8.
4a
July 17
Equipment Currently Held by Branches:- Please ensure that a list of the
equipment you hold is sent to [email protected] at HQ, copying in
RD so that it is covered by CAMRA’s insurance
Branches.
Vacancies
Action Section Detail Who
1.
3.c.15
(Nov 08)
There are a number of regional posts vacant. They are
Area Organisers for counties which currently do not have one in post
Regional Champion Beer of Britain Coordinator
Regional Tasting Panel Coordinator
If anyone is interested in any of these posts please contact the RD.
ALL
2. 10a
(Feb 14)
Contact Oliva Fernandez ([email protected]) if you are interested
in assisting at local level with her BLC role or are interested in volunteering to
be a BLO.
ALL
3. 15a
(Jul 15)
Regional Tasting Competitions:- If you would like to host a round at your
festival contact PM/KHM ([email protected])
Those
interested
Feedback
Action Section Detail Who
1. 3.c.25
(Nov 08)
Report problems with individual BLO’s through the current feedback form.
Any problems endemic to the BLO system to be reported to Nik Antona.
Contact Oliva Fernandez ([email protected]) or the RD if
branch contacts are not receiving BLC reports.
Branches
2. 8b
(Jun 11)
Let Young Members Group know of any activities aimed at this age group and
ensure that they are included in What’s Brewing’s Diary Page. Branches
3.
3c
Action 1
(Apr 17)
GBG & Pub of the Year Selection Methods, send details to RD to put onto
website Branches
Page | 13
Public Transport
Action Section Detail Who
1.
11a
(Nov 15)
Forward information on events and ideas Involving Public Transport to the RD. Branches
2.
11b
(Nov 15)
Send information on bus operators to the RD so that the regional website and
WhatPub can be updated. Branches
3.
11c (Nov
15)
Check bus route information on WhatPub and arrange for any updates to be
made Branches
4.
12a (Feb
16)
Inform RD of ideas to promote using public transport to visit pubs. ALL
Page | 14
Branch and Regional Reports
1 Cambridge & District:
News (including pub and industry news etc)
The Green Man, Six Mile Bottom closed without warning in July to become a bed and breakfast. We have been reviewing ACVs as some of the early ones have reached the end of their five year term and renewal is not automatic. A new brewery is starting up in Linton - Wylde Sky Brewing. They are doing test brews and we believe the opening date will be announced shortly.
Campaigning and New Initiatives
A campaigning trip around village pubs took place on 15th September.
Membership/Activation
Branch Membership stands at 5016. We gained new members at the summer beer festival, but the number has now dropped back as people’s membership who joined at the 2017 festival expires.
Beer Festivals
The Cambridge Beer Festival Winter will take place at the University Social Club, Mill Lane from 14th to 17th November. We know this venue will be demolished at some stage as part of a wider redevelopment. We can certainly use it this year, and probably next year but we do not know after that. Finding an alternative venue is proving tricky.
Branch/Social Events
Branch Strolling Socials, using a combination of walking and public transport are proving popular. On 18th August the social visited Burwell, Reach and the Swafhams. On 13th October we visited Ickleton, Hinxton, Duxford and Sawston, including a visit to Turpin’s Brewery in Pampisford. The next one is planned around Ely on 15th December, all members welcome.
Future Events
We are hosting the National Executive and Regional Director’s meeting in Cambridge on 7th and 8th December.
2. Chelmsford & Mid Essex
News (including pub and industry news etc) RIP Chris ‘Podge’ Pollard, who did so much for our Branch and other beer lovers (see WB, October). Greene King has refused a full offer by a local brewer for The Wagon and Horses, Braintree, which is up for sale. A couple of pubs have closed over the last few months. We are sorry to report that the well-respected Chelmsford brewery, Round Tower, has closed.
Campaigning and New Initiatives We are supporting The Sportsmans Arms, Nounsley, in its fight to save the pub. We have published our new Recommended Pub Guide.
Membership/Activation
Branch membership stands at 1,896, 17 more than last July.
Beer Festivals
The Summer Beer Festival was enjoyed by everyone, the organiser, Kevin Sutterby, was congratulated on doing a magnificent job. The attendance was down on last year due to the hot weather, the England match in the World Cup and in keeping with the general trend in festival attendance.
Planning is already underway for the two festivals next year. For the Summer one we have a new organiser, Luke Keatley-Clarke.
Branch/Social Events
We carried out the Regional POTY Judging trip with an overnight in Norwich to allow sufficient time to
Page | 15
cover all the 6 pubs in East Anglia. We visited the Spa Valley Railway Beer and Cider Festival and the Epping and Ongar Railway Beer Festival. We were invited to two preview evenings at pubs, prior to their festivals, and held an Inter-Branch Social in Maldon with the Ipswich Branch, visiting the pubs and micro-pubs. We held a Beer Cuisine Evening in a local pub, organised Real Ale Runabouts to the northern part of our branch area, a micro-pub tour to Broadstairs and Ramsgate and, by popular demand, a return visit to the Dengie Peninsula. We had a weekend trip to Bristol.
Future Events We have organised a weekend trip next year to Bruges, which is already fully booked.
3 Colchester & North East Essex
4 East Bedfordshire
5. East Norfolk Sub Branch
We are planning at least two A4 size beer trails/guides for next summer one to cover Yarmouth and one for Gorleston. If we get the chance and co-operation we hope to have one for the Broads as well. These are to be supplied to Tourist Information points, Broads cruisers bases, Holiday Camps etc & pubs included in the guides. Sponsorship is being sought if possible. Patrick Smith(Chairman) and Dave Tibbitts (Secretary) will be standing down at our AGM on 12th November both having done 2 years. A vote will take place to elect new officers at the AGM The regular last Friday Five at Five socials have been well supported. The branch is getting 12-18 members at monthly meetings which are moved every month to a different venue.
6 Ely & District.
7 Herts & Essex Borders
The Bishops Stortford Beer Festival was moving to a new home for 2019, but following a change of Management at the venue, the new costs and other requirements being put on us made the event unviable. Negotiations were not going far or fast enough, so to avoid any confusion we have decided to pull the plug and cancel this event. Still looking for new venue, but unlikely in 2019. The Bishops Stortford Brewery ceased trading in the Summer 2018. This was due to illness in the brewers immediate family, which meant he had insufficient time to run the brewery. The Ash Valley Brewery has temporally closed, whilst some building work is taking place on the pub to which it is attached. Once work is completed, and the brewery have re-located by a few yards South, it should be back brewing early Spring 2019.
8 Huntingdonshire
9 Ipswich & East Suffolk
Ipswich town centre – more pubs, restaurants and shops have closed in recent months. Some are expected to reopen again soon but several prominent pubs are still closed. In a recent review in Last Orders it was noted that about 36 pubs had closed in the town in the past 12 years with about 17 new venues opening (mostly wine bars and bar/restaurants). The council has just completed their redevelopment of the Cornhill so hopefully more footfall here during the next few months. Clubs article in latest edition of Last Orders as previously discussed – raising awareness of CAMRAs desire to support local clubs alongside pubs. Big Drop brewery - James and Rob (both from Ipswich) have created and now manage a local low alcohol craft beer brewing business. Their company has been growing since Nov 2016, by contracting out the brewing, alcohol removal and packaging processes to other established brewers with excess capacity. Currently 50% of the 5 brands are exported (mainly to Netherlands and Sweden).
Page | 16
Krafty Braumeister – based in Leiston, this is not a traditional UK brewery. Owner Uli is a real German with some great stories, producing 2 good quality German style beers using a German style brewery. Earl Soham – Albert Ale (4.4%) has recently taken the top spot at the SIBA East Independent Beer Awards, taking home overall Gold in the “cask” beer competition.
Campaigning
Last Orders magazine continues to be produced. Edited by Nigel Smith. It continues to cover six branch areas and gets contributions from most branches for each edition. Real Ale runabouts are now completing another season of trips out from Ipswich. They run until December. Suffolk POTY judging recently completed and certificates have been presented to winners. Membership
Branch membership has been just over 1000 for some time. Beer Festivals
All local branch beer festivals are currently organised in conjunction with other organisations and are at no financial risk to CAMRA or the local branch. Branch & Social events Branch meetings attract about 12-15 people and are now being held bi-monthly. Social secretary is currently organising more social events, mostly during day-time to a variety of local beer festivals and other towns accessible by rail. It seems increasingly difficult to organise any evening events during the week (Mon to Thu).
10 Maldon and Dengie
News (including pub and industry news etc)
The Maldon Brewing Company (which brews Puck’s Folly and Farmer’s Golden Boar) received planning permission in late October from Maldon District Council to build a new brewery in Cock Clarks, near Purleigh – this small village is about 5 miles outside Maldon. The brewery will be adjacent to the Maldon Oyster Company premises. This move will enable Maldon Brewing to rationalise its operations and enable them to expand and diversify their beer range as required. Campaigning and New Initiatives
Maldon & Dengie CAMRA actively supported the planning application for the Maldon Brewing Company’s new brewery (there were quite a few objections raised, chiefly from local residents). We submitted a letter from the Branch and asked members to submit their own comments of support – about 25 members did so. We are launching a Real Ale Trail in January 2019, leading up the Maldon Beer Festival. About 26 pubs in the Branch area will be included, as well as several pubs from neighbouring Branch areas. We are working with Maldon District Council and the Community Rail Partnership to release a leaflet in 2019 for the Crouch Valley Rail Ale Trail, which is designed to encourage people to travel on the Crouch Valley line and visit the brewery taps, micropubs and good beer pubs in towns and villages along the route. Finance has been forthcoming from the owners of the disused Bradwell Nuclear Power Station (£1,500) to enable the leaflets to be designed and printed. We will be asked to provide some financial support for the project at some stage. Membership/Activation
Page | 17
We currently have 471 Branch members, which is an increase since the last report. We get up to 25 members at our Branch meetings. We currently have six committee members, which is not enough to run all desired activities. Branch membership involvement in volunteering for our two beer festivals is very healthy, however. Beer Festivals The South Woodham Ferrers Beer & Cider Festival which was held in early October was a great success. Although attendances were down compared to 2017 (down 41 to 824), the profit increased to £2,300 (compared to £1,955 the previous year). Branch/Social Events Most of our social events are well-attended; we hold at least two every month. Upcoming events include a Bar Billiards tournament at the Chequers in Goldhanger and a pub walk around Hoxton and Hackney in East London. Chris Harvey Chairman 6 November 2018
11. Mid Anglia
Mid Anglia Branch has had a difficult few months. Following an apparent lack of interest from members an EGM was held in September. A healthy number attended the meeting and a unanimous and welcome vote of confidence was received. The branch is now in the process of deciding on various events over the next few months in the hope that the renewed enthusiasm will be maintained We also ran a 2 day Beer Festival in early September at the Mid Suffolk Light Railway. This was an encouraging experience especially on the first day and if the opportunity arises next year some lessons have been learned.
12 North Bedfordshire
News Charles Wells’ plan to build a new brewery, pub and conference centre in Bedford had been delayed and was now unlikely to be completed before 2020. We believe the current “cuckoo brewing” programme with partners in the Wandering Brewer Project (WBP) will be extended after the current series runs out in 2019.
White Park has transferred and installed its plant from Cranfield to the Three Cups pub in Bedford, but no brewing has yet taken place there. As the pub manager, who was also training to become head brewer, has recently decided to leave, there may yet be further delay for the plan to resume brewing.
Brewery Z, a tiny operation on the outskirts of Bedford, has started brewing innovative beers for bottling on a very small scale, but with no real ale so far. The beers are available from a few local off-licences or direct from the brewery.
Campaigning
Our branch magazine, The Firkin, is published four times a year, in collaboration with Matelot Marketing. Selling advertising is clearly becoming harder for Matelot, with the possibility that our current model may eventually become unsustainable. Discussion with the other Bedfordshire branches has taken place to explore options for a possible future county-wide magazine, but no action is envisaged in the short term.
Our use of social media is developing well, with a series of paid adverts on Facebook bought to promote the October festival. Although it created interest online, we cannot be sure how many people were persuaded to visit the festival, but the cost was modest compared to advertising in the local press.
Membership
Branch membership is currently about 800, increased slightly by new local members recruited at our recent festival, but we do not yet have exact figures.
Beer festivals Our 41
st Bedford Beer & Cider Festival was held in the first week of October. Although it was broadly
Page | 18
successful, the declining trend in footfall and beer sales continued. We have not yet held our final meeting to review the event, study the accounts and record anything to be changed or improved at the next festival. The decision on whether to run another festival next October will be taken after the review.
Branch social events Our pub assessment tours continue, using a cost-effective local charity bus scheme to visit rural pubs, many of which are otherwise rarely patronised by CAMRA members. These and occasional urban pub walks are used to collect NBSS scores, which combined with data logged through WhatPub help us prepare an objective GBG shortlist in January.
Our Summer Day Out in June took a group of members to Farr Brew, Ash Valley pub micro at Green Tye, Saffron and Papworth. Sadly, Ash Valley was not brewing when we visited, but we enjoyed lunch at the pub.
Our festival staff outing in October was another visit to Farr Brew, near Wheathampstead, Herts. An enjoyable evening washed down with some excellent beer!
Public transport More evening buses running out of town would be welcome, but nothing new to report.
Future Events Nothing else to report.
Peter Argyle, Branch Secretary
13 North East Suffolk
News (including pub and industry news etc)
• The long closed Bank Stores in Lowestoft has been purchased by a private company who have refurbished the building and re-opened it as Woodworks, a restaurant and bar serving three real ales. • A search online indicates that seven pubs in our branch area are currently for sale and three other pubs are seeking new lessees. Campaigning and New Initiatives
• We have started the process to determine our branch entries for the 2020 edition of the GBG and our Pubs of the Year for 2019. • We hired a bus and had a campaigning trip and social around rural pubs on the edge of our branch area. Membership/Activation
• Our membership has remained static at 557. Branch/Social Events • Our recent Mid-month Meanders were in Oulton Broad, Wenhaston & Blyford, Walberswick, Halesworth and Lowestoft. A couple of us also attended many of the Norwich branch midweek strolls. • Our weekend socials took us to Shadingfield, Pakefield, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth and beer festivals in Reedham (Humpty Dumpty Brewery) and Sheringham (North Norfolk Railway). • The branch hosted the annual Suffolk CAMRA v Norwich & Norfolk CAMRA bowls match at the Caxton Club in Beccles. • Members of the branch attended regional CAMRA beer festivals in Stowmarket, Colchester, Clacton, Chappel and Norwich.
14 North Hertfordshire
15 North West Essex
Presentation to North West Essex Club of the Year 2018 The presentation to The Birchanger Sports & Social Club (BSCC), Birchanger, took place on 9th July. North West Essex Branch Chairman, Ian Fitzhenry, presented the certificate to Kenny Gould, Front of House Manager at the club. A spokesman for the club said "we continue to pride ourselves on the quality
Page | 19
and value we offer". The club goes forward to the East Anglian Club of the Year, an accolade it has won twice before! The Social Club has served the people of Birchanger and the surrounding towns and villages since it was provided by Sir Charles Gold in 1891. Today the Club continues to thrive, with over 600 members. Braintree Real Ale Festival 2018: Went well, but attendance and sponsorship were down on previous years. Pumphouse, Toppesfield:
Golden Pride, which was brewed as the Festival Ale for Braintree Real Ale Festival in June, will be available in the Green Man (brewing schedule permitting). The Spring Ale has sold very well and has proved very popular. The main outlet for Pumphouse is of course the Green Man, Toppesfield, however, there are regular sales to the Horse & Groom in Cornish Hall End, the Fox & Hounds in Steeple, the Cock Inn in Clare and a number of other pubs, clubs and beer festivals. Save the Three Horseshoes in Helions Bumpstead: When the Three Horseshoes in the small north west Essex village of Helions Bumpstead closed its doors for the final time some four years ago, a group of villagers were determined that it would not follow the example of many a rural pub and become a bijou private residence. So they set out on a course to eventually bring it back to life. With the active support of the Parish Council, Braintree District Council imposed an Asset of Community Value order on the building, thereby restricting its future development as anything other than a pub and the villagers set about raising the money to buy the building and reopen their village pub. The Helions Bumpstead Community Benefit Society was established and in May 2018 shares were offered, with a minimum investment of £50. Within a very short time, 125 shareholders had raised an incredible sum in excess of £280,000 with 75% of investors coming from the village itself - a remarkable achievement for a village of just 100 households and a firm indication that villagers 'wanted their pub back'. Additional grants and loans were secured from the Plunkett Foundation and the purchase is currently going ahead. A considerable amount of renovation and decoration will be required to restore the Three Horseshoes to a condition ready for opening and the management committee have decided to appoint a tenant to run the pub on a day-to-day basis. It is hoped that recruitment will get under way shortly and, if everything goes to plan, Helions Bumpstead will once again have a village pub in time for Christmas! Railway Arms, Saffron Walden - the fight continues: Charles Wells have applied for planning permission to demolish existing toilets, build a new toilet block, and do other 'adjustments'. It has become apparent that there is clear indication that there are plans to build 2 dwellings on the current pub garden. There are several inaccuracies to the plans put forward, which are being challenged. Clearly the loss of the garden, a crucial part of the Asset of Community Value (ACV) which is due to be included as Green Open Space in the forthcoming Neighbourhood Plan is more than a technicality. It would be a huge loss for the community and the two houses would irreversibly reduce the facilities on offer at the Railway. The deadline for submission of comments has passed, with most submissions being against the development.
16 Norwich & Norfolk
News (including pub and industry news etc) A lot of activity around EI Group (Enterprise Inns) terminating tenancies or ‘failing’ to negotiate new agreements with tenants and converting the pubs to the Craft Union format, where their ‘partner’ takes a percentage (rumoured to be around 18-20%) of the turnover to pay themselves and any staff, and EI take the rest, supplying the beer and dictating at what price (usually low, £2.50/pint) the beer is sold.
This often appear to be a way around the Pubs Code requirement to offer an ‘MRO’ or Market Rent Only option to tenants, alongside any tied offer. The MRO is supposed to leave the tenant no worse off than they would be under the tied option. However, if both the tied and MRO options are increased sufficiently, then neither are acceptable to the tenant. This almost certainly breaks the spirit if not the letter of the Pubs Code, but unfortunately the Pubs Code Adjudicator, Paul Newby, who used to work closely with
Page | 20
pubcos at property agent Fleurets) has not ruled on this, despite being asked to.
Several pubs in Norwich were affected at the same time, prompting articles in the local press, and one, the Brickmakers, a national-award-winning music pub, attracted some national attention, as nearly 20,000 people signed a petition to save it.
It should be noted that these are not failing pubs – some tenants had been there for years if not decades.
This is a pubco ploy to yet again get around any legislation designed to curb their excesses, and as CAMRA we are still not doing enough to combat this. Paul Ainsworth apparently urged the NE to take a much stronger line against pubcos at the last NE meeting, but failed, and has resigned.
Campaigning and New Initiatives
We continue to advise local groups and assist them in raising ACV nominations, and oppose planning applications we feel are not in the interests of consumers. We will shortly have to consider whether to try to renew ACV nominations, as the 5-year periods are getting close to expiring.
We again ran a competition to incentivise amateur brewers, with the Anglian Craft Brewers organisation. They held an event in June where their members brewed beers and exhibited them at a local pub, as a tasting event, where they gave away free samples (due to licensing and HMRC laws).
Our Tasting Panel attended and judged the beers, with the top three then collaborating with local commercial breweries (Woodforde’s, Elmtree and Norfolk Brewhouse) to brew the same recipe but upscaled to commercial quantities. Four casks of each were then provided to Norwich Beer Festival, where the public judged them to find a winner (Elmtree & John Lee, with Norwich Surprise Major).
The Norfolk Brewhouse beer, California Magnum Blonde, also came second in the voting for Golden Ale of the Festival and second in the overall Beer of the Festival, a fantastic achievement for both the brewery and Kevin Pratt the amateur brewer!
Membership / Activation
Our Young Members Secretary, Lucy Cousins, has organised several events but it is difficult to get people to engage. She is looking to work with the UEA to increase the amount and / or quality of real ale available, in addition to trying to recruit members.
155 new members were recruited at Norwich Beer Festival – thank you to all those who worked on Membership, especially those who came from significant distance to help, such as Lyn Sharpe from Stoke, and Caroline Schwaller from Cumbria!
Beer Festivals The 41
st Norwich Beer Festival ran from October 22 – 27
th and was as always very successful.
Although the attendance was slightly down at just below 17,000, this was partly due to there being two home football matches during the Festival, which hasn’t happened for several years. Craig Harmer was Organiser for the first time and did a great job. Several changes were made from previous years. A new bar showcasing “the boundaries of real ale” and called the Curiosity Bar was added to the existing bars, and was very popular, selling out of its 20 kils of beer. A number of new banners, all in the same style, were used to advertise aspects of the Festival and CAMRA itself, giving the festival a more consistent look (previously various random-sized banners had been used, some old some new, and mostly advertising breweries). Cooling was used for the first time, on two of the three stillages, and temperature monitoring equipment was used to continuously track beer and ambient temperatures.
Planning is into top gear now for the Great British Beer Festival Winter, to be held for the last time in Norwich between 19
th and 23
rd of February 2019 – please advertise the Festival as much as possible to
your branch! GBBFW will be open all day Wednesday – Saturday, there will be a CAMRA members preview on the Tuesday night, and the festival will stock a full range of beer styles, cider & perry. Entry is free entry for CAMRA members at all sessions. Full details can be found at winter.gbbf.org.uk.
Branch / Social Events Socials continue to be very well attended, with two city pub crawls and two coach trips to county pubs each month, plus several other regular and annual events, the most recent being a visit to Crisp Maltings which was very interesting. We try to split the crawls and coach trips between evenings and daytimes, to attract as wide an audience as possible.
Public Transport
An area we should perhaps do more in, as I noted this time last year!
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Future Events
Great British Beer Festival Winter will run from February 19th – 23
rd 2019, as mentioned above.
17 Peterborough & District
Latest news. The branch continues to serve the campaign. Several officers stood down at our last AGM, but we have been lucky that their replacements are doing just as good a job, given the short time they've been in their roles. We still need a Campaigns Officer to push us in the right direction on efforts to promote ale and pubs. Brewery news
Our 14 breweries are continuing to thrive, selling more beer and finding success at various beer festivals around the region. Beer Festival 2018 Late August saw our 41th Peterborough Beer Festival. Around 27,000 drinkers turned up to enjoy the event. Running our own Gin Bar this year helped us to raise a profit and boost CAMRA's profile. Our turnover is huge, but our infrastructure costs are enormous too. Our thanks go out to all our volunteers who made it a resounding success. Membership and socials
Our membership remains around the same. 90+ new members signed up at the Beer festival, balancing those lost for various reasons over the year. New Membership Sec, Karen, is still finding her feet. Pub News
Sad news that my local, the Heron, in Stanground (no AVC, at the request of the landlady) has closed and will become flats. Happily, plans for two new micropubs are in progress, in the south of the city. Cheers Dickie Bird, Secretary, Peterborough & District CAMRA
18 South Bedfordshire
News (including pub and industry news etc)
Nil Campaigning and New Initiatives
Nil Membership/Activation
Membership steadily falling Beer Festivals
New organisers for the Luton Beer & Cider Festival have stepped forward after the resignation of the previous one (after 9 years). A new venue has been tentatively booked for mid-2019. The new organisers plan to introduce radical (for CAMRA) improvements to the cooling system which will require some investment. Other local CAMRA festivals are being consulted on collaborating in the new cooling system.
Branch/Social Events
Weekly social events continue as well as regular 49 seater coach trips Future Events
Page | 22
Annual trip to the Tring brewery is planned. Other Information
Nothing new Mike Coombes Secretary South Bedfordshire CAMRA Branch
19 South East Essex
20 South Hertfordshire
The branch hosted another successful St. Albans Beer and Cider festival in September. The festival introduced a number of innovations including cooling on bars, new food arrangements and a strong social media initiative. 267 new members had been signed up at the festival including younger members, some taking the opportunity to take part in the CBOB East Anglian Strong Beers judging. Branch meetings continue to be popular with much interest shown in the guest speaker initiative whereby guests talk to the branch about various issues. The summer saw a number of interesting speakers including; John Keeling, Head Brewer at Fullers who talked about the future of CAMRA campaigning and New Fullers Innovations; Jed Griffiths, a planning consultant, who described how planning legislation had progressed over the last 50 years culminating in important legislation in 2017 that now gives additional protection for pubs. He stressed how CAMRA had been important (and still is) in fighting closures, how it has influenced legislation and explained why ACVs can still be important for local communities; and Nick Jones and Will Fry of Oakham Brewery who described the brewery’s history up to this year’s 25
th
anniversary. As well as ensuring that details on the pubs in the branch area shown on WhatPub are up to date via member surveys, the branch has also written to around 230 pub licensees informing them of WhatPub and explaining how they can update their details on the site. The branch continues to have a busy social calendar with recent trips to Mighty Oak in collaboration with the Old Cross Tavern, Hertford. Further trips for October/November 2018 are being planned to Mad Squirrel brewery at Potten End in Hertfordshire and Harvey’s at Lewes in East Sussex. To encourage more new and younger members a 4-page young member feature is planned as the centre piece to Issue 291 of the area newsletter (Pints of View) for October / November. It will include content from all Herts branches. In addition another family day was held at the Black Horse (Hertford) in September and a new members night is being planned for November in St. Albans. The branch continues to scrutinise proposed pub closures and are proposing drafting a letter to Parish Councils on the value of village pubs and Local Government Local Plans and protection of pubs.
21 South West Essex
News (including pub and industry news, etc)
Havering & East London's second Micropub, the “Gidea Park Micropub” opened in Gidea Park (just inside the London half of SW Essex Branch) on 21st December 2017. As with the first Micropub in our Branch area (the "Upminster TapRoom” in Upminster) the applicants faced opposition from Havering Council to their planning application for change of use (in this case from an accountant's office in a parade of shops), on the grounds of noise and traffic issues). Both of these decisions were overturned on appeal and eventually both Micropubs were able to open.
Campaigning and New Initiatives WhatPub
The total number of Pubs in the Branch area is 433 (184 in the Essex area of the Branch & 249 in the London area of the Branch). This total is made up of:
Page | 23
163 Open Real Ale Pubs (85 in the Essex area of the Branch & 78 in the London area of the Branch). 94 Open ‘Fizz’ Pubs (No Real Ale). 39 Closed (Temporarily / Future Uncertain) Pubs. 137 Lost Locals (Permanently Closed since the Branch was formed in 1976). All SW Essex Branch Pubs have at least the basic information required (Amber Status) and we have been engaged in updating these entries and adding details to them to bring them up to Full Details (Green Status) or Full Details with at least one Photo (Gold Status). The number of SW Essex Branch Pub Photos uploaded into WhatPub is now 576. All our open Pubs (and those closed Pubs that are - or were - were still recognisable as such) have now been photographed and uploaded. A few of our pubs still need to be surveyed, and a significant number resurveyed, but inspiring our relatively-few active members to do so, has proved difficult. LocAle SW Essex Branch continues to look at its Pubs (& Clubs), to see which currently fulfil the LocAle criteria (consistently serving at least one Real Ale from a Brewery within 30 road miles of the Pub) and which others could be 'encouraged' to qualify. A 'LocAle' Webpage is planned for the Branch Website "http://swessex.camra.org.uk". Pubs of the Year (Essex & London Areas) The SW Essex Branch 2018 (Essex Area) Pub of the Year is the Victoria Arms at Brentwood. The SW Essex Branch 2018 (London Area) Pub of the Year is the Upminster TapRoom at Upminster. Good Beer Guide
SW Essex Branch has submitted its full allocation of 9 entries (no Reserves) for the Essex County of the GBG 2019. In the London area of the Branch 11 entries (of the 13 allocated) have been submitted. Membership/Activation
As at 22/10/2018 the National Membership stood at 191,934, while the Branch Membership was at 1,612
(both up again on previous figures) and made up as follows:
Single Joint Life U26 Student Unemployed Retired Disabled Affiliate
586 340 87 28 3 10 549 9 0
However, apart from the Thurrock Beer Festival, the Branch Weekend and the Christmas Meal, Branch Activation is still very low, with fewer than 20 Members regularly attending events. Beer Festivals SW Essex Branch: The 2018 Thurrock Beer Festival was held (from June 5
th to 9
th) at the usual venue, Thurrock Civic Hall,
Blackshots Lane, Grays, RM16 2JU. All Essex Branches: The 9th Chappel Winter Beer Festival was held on Friday 2
nd & Saturday 3
rd March 2018 in the Goods
Shed at the East Anglian Railway Museum, Chappel & Wakes Colne station (near Colchester), CO6 2DS. Unfortunately, due to the exceptionally-bad weather conditions (particularly on the Friday), attendance was poor and beer sales were less than half of those of last year's event. However, a small surplus was achieved. The 32nd Chappel Beer Festival will be held from Tuesday 4
th to Saturday 8
th September 2018, also at
the East Anglian Railway Museum. The Friday evening session was All-Ticket (as in previous years), for those arriving after 17:30.
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Branch Magazine We do not have a dedicated Branch Magazine, but events and pub changes in the London half of SW Essex Branch (and the Thurrock Beer Festival in Essex) are covered by the "London Drinker" Magazine, which we supply information to and distribute. Branch/Social Events
Branch Events are held at least weekly, details are normally in “What’s Brewing”, “London Drinker" Magazine and on our Branch Website http://swessex.camra.org.uk
The Branch Christmas Dinner Social is to be held at the Unicorn (Harvester), Gidea Park (with a before and after session at the nearby Gidea Park Micropub, on Wednesday 12
th December 2018.
The Branch AGM was held on Wednesday 11th April 2018 at the White Hart, Grays, from 8.30pm. Public Transport We are fortunate in having very good public transport throughout almost all of the London area of our Branch. However, in the Essex area of the Branch, apart from places along the routes of the regular c2c & Greater Anglia rail services, the bus services are patchy in the evenings and virtually non-existent away from the larger towns and main roads. In our London & Essex borders area, we have the least frequent TfL bus route (not including school buses) - the 347 - which runs just 4 times a day (not Sundays, nor evenings) between Romford and Ockendon stations, via our two Micropubs in Gidea Park & Upminster. These were mentioned (above) in the "News" section. Events Branch Weekend
The 2018 Branch Weekend was held in Cardiff from 27th September to 1
st October, during the Great
Welsh Beer Festival (which we only visited once, mainly because of their non-refundable glass policy, that would have left each of us with multiple unwanted glasses!). We also visited a selection of GBG pubs, micropubs and other pubs in the Glamorgan area. Next year's Branch Weekend is to be held in Stourbridge (West Midlands). Other Information BLOs - Essex Area of SW Essex Branch Brentwood Brewery - Beryl & Trevor Ellis Deverell’s Brewery - N/A - Brewery Not Active (beers were subsequently being brewed by Hope Brewery at their shared site). Hope Brewery - Brewery has also now closed. Mr Majolica Brewery - Anne Radley (was appointed, as the previous incumbent had been unable to perform this role due to his wife's illness and other family issues). However, due to the impending redevelopment of the site in which the brewery is located (and the option to share the Hope brewery site no longer being available), brewing has been temporarily suspended. BLO - London Area of SW Essex Branch Solvay Society Brewery - Matt Chinnery (Simon Fyffe was nominated by the Branch, but subsequently resigned). NB: This Brewery was set-up in the premises of the former Ha'Penny Brewery. Alan Barker SW Essex CAMRA Branch Secretary, Contact, etc.
22 Tendring
NEWS
Tendring District Council have granted an ACV for The Globe at Harwich on 17/10/18. This is a historically important pub in Harwich and dates back to the 17
th Century.
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Both Giles Watling MP (Clacton) & Bernard Jenkin MP (Harwich) supported the recent Camra Mass Lobby Day. CAMPAIGNING
The 2018 Tendring Camra Pub Passport was another success. A Tankard will be presented to the winner at the Royal Marine in Walton on the Naze on 18/11/18. RambAle 2A was a repeat of RambAle 2 but run in reverse from Great Oakley to Harwich. The RambAle’s are very popular with Branch members, with around 25 taking part on 20/10/18. MEMBERSHIP Branch membership currently stands at 798. BEER FESTIVALS
Harwich & Parkeston Winter Ale Festival 2018, takes place on 21
st – 24
th November at the Parkeston
Railway Club. BRANCH / SOCIAL / FUTURE EVENTS. 15
TH December, Xmas Sweater Day, trip to 4 pubs on the Suffolk / Tendring Border
25th January, Burns Night, Cross Inn at Great Bromley
21st March, Branch AGM, Red Lion in Manningtree
17th – 19
th May, Trip to the Black Country.
Regards, Peter Butler, Tendring Camra Chairman
23 West Norfolk
Our meetings continue to move around the branch area and continue to be reasonably well attended with 15-20 people coming along, including to our recent AGM. We try to keep our meetings short to allow for time to socialise afterwards. We enjoyed a day out with members from Norwich and Norfolk Branch at Whin Hill Cider in July for the presentation of their awards from the National Cider and Perry Championships Pubs continue to open and close and our Pubs Preservation Officer, Jeff Hoyle, does his best to keep on top of these and liaises with the council to challenge change of use applications. Barsham Brewery supplied a consignment of beer to the Bank House and Live and Let Live in Kings Lynn by boat and the event was well covered in the local media. Unfortunately, due to a communication issue, no-one from the branch committee were present when the beer was delivered but a number of us will be going to the Bank House to watch a film which was made of the trip.
24 West Suffolk
Cider Report
National Cider & Perry Championships 2018 The presentation to Whin Hill took place on 22 July 2018. East Anglian Cider & Perry Competitions The Essex Cider Competition took place at Chelmsford Summer Beer & Cider Festival in July. The results were: 1st: London Glider, Medium Dry; 2nd: Wibblers, Death by Wibble; 3rd: Hill Holme, Tally Ho! The East Anglian Cider & Perry Competition took place at Norwich Beer Festival in October. The cider
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results were: 1st: Cassels, Summer Session (Cambridgeshire) 2nd: Richards, Wonky Donkey (Hertfordshire) 3rd: Norfolk Raider, Wingman (Norfolk) The perry results were: 1st: Simon's, Gibson's Perry (Cambridgeshire) 2nd: Apple Cottage, Fred's Perry (Hertfordshire) 3rd: Berties, Galanthus Perry (Essex) East Anglian Cider Pub of the Year 2018 The presentation to the Garden City Brewery & Bar. took place on 25 July 2018. The presentation to the Woodbine Inn took place on 19 August 2018. Producers Jonty's has stopped producing. One new cider maker: Drove Orchards, Norfolk. If you want to know more, or if you have any cider news, then please contact me, [email protected], 01799 531582 (h), 07824 726108 (m).
Young Members Report
As a regional we are still progressing well with socials, which are slowly becoming better attended. We had a fantastic afternoon taking part in a national beer judging competition led by Roger Protz. Recently some young member from East Anglia attended the national young members forum and I successfully bid for Cambridge branch to host the 2019 national young members forum. Despite a successful year, activation remains the key challenged faced. It is vital for CAMRA nationally and locally to support the work done by young members and encourage them to take an active role in their branch. Young people do drink cask ale and we need to work together in showcasing what being a CAMRA can offer them. CAMRA’s image problem is still paramount and remains our anchor.
Public Transport
For the St. Albans Beer Festival I was able to get Arriva and Metoline on board by putting Ar posters on their buses serving Hertfordshire. This was done at no charge. We allowed off duty staff free entry on production of their staff pass. A free entry offer was allowed to the public on production of a current bus day ticket in order to assess the usefulness of this kind of advertising. This proved worthwhile. I hope First and Stagecoach would also be as accommodating with festivals in other parts of the region. It is hoped that ticket information can be listed on Camraear. I'll talk to Chris on this one. Meanwhile, please let me have any other transport & pubs idears we can circulate round the group. JC 1/11/18