East Midlands Regional Minutes 1

MINUTES OF EAST MIDLANDS REGIONAL MEETING HELD AT 12.00 ON SATURDAY 4 MARCH 2017 At the Greyhound, Hinckley, Leics LE10 1HN

Summary of key points Attendees updated on mailouts, current campaigns plus

other regional matters including various matters concerning beer festivals

Actions

Branches to ask for volunteers to a) work on a regional mapping project, b) become the regional finance officer; assistance is also needed with regional website.

.

East Midlands Regional Minutes 2

1. MEETING ARRANGEMENTS 1.1 Standard - The Regional Director (RD) welcomed all to the meeting and reminded those present that all mobile phones should be silent during the meeting. 1.12 Local - Hinckley & Bosworth CAMRA outlined the lunch arrangements. 1.2 Apologies for absence: Steve Westby, Brewery Liaison Co-ordinator (BLC); North Notts branch; Loughborough branch; Melton Mowbray branch; Dickie Bird, Peterborough; Mark Grist, Ashbourne & District; Mick Portman, Chesterfield; Bob Foulger, Lincolnshire Area Organiser (AO); Ray Kirby, Nottingham; Paul Edwards, Andrew Brett, Mansfield & Ashfield; Mandy Stephensen, Leicester; Julian Tubbs, Derby; Aaron Joyce, Lincoln. 2. ATTENDEES 2.1 Present Branches Represented - 14 - (numbers present - 36): Amber Valley, Burton & S Derbyshire, Derby, Dronfield & District, Grantham, Hinckley & Bosworth, Leicester, Lincoln, Mansfield & Ashfield, Matlock & Dales, Newark, Nottingham, Rutland and Sheffield. East Midlands Officials – Carl Brett, Regional Director (RD); Alan Ward, Deputy RD; Rhoda Waygood, Regional Secretary. Nik Antona (NA) represented the National Executive (NE). Three members from the West Midlands region were also present by invitation. 2.2 Minutes of previous meeting 2.21 Accuracy The meeting accepted the minutes as a true record. 2.22 Action Minutes 2.22.1 Branches to ask for volunteer(s) to assist with new regional website – ongoing. A new regional website has been set up and needs populating with content. 2.22.2 RD to report to meeting progress with revised Good Beer Guide (GBG) allocations – RD reported that there would be no changes for the 2018 Guide. A timetable has been agreed with Books Committee for 2019 which includes a complete review of GBG structure. David Finn (Hinckley & Bosworth) felt that this was unsatisfactory as this matter had been going on for some years now. NA explained that the revised allocations down to county levels had been put to the RDs but had been rejected as those with fewer allocations felt this would be unpopular. Wide changes in demographics and pub numbers have occurred since the original allocations – in the most extreme cases currently one branch has an allocation for 1 in 4 pubs whereas another, only 1 in 20. The officially agreed timetable is circulated with these minutes. – item discharged (ID).

2.22.3 Branches to ensure pub closure data is kept up to date – as this is now used by CAMRA for pub closure statistics. Transferred to Standing Orders. 2.22.4 Branches to ensure activation is a named item on branch meeting agendas – Moved to Standing Orders. 2.22.5 RD to contact Northampton branch re non reporting BLOs - Steve Westby had successfully contacted – ID. 2.3 Matters arising 2.3.1 Re 5.3.2 - Bill Woolley (Leicester) is keeping in touch with the Little Britain Pub Company. 2.3.2 In response to the query on beer festival entries on WhatPub (3.6.1) – RD had established that beer festivals can be entered onto WhatPub as an entry – but open/closing dates need to be carefully recorded.

3. BRANCH & REGIONAL MATTERS 3.1 Regional Matters inc mailouts, ACVs, activation 3.1.1 RD briefly ran through the numerous memos that had been published since the last meeting, commenting where appropriate (various subjects were addressed later in the agenda). 3.1.1.1 The memo from Ken Davie re year end financial statements was discussed – branches must comply with this or financial support for beer festivals will be withdrawn – six branches in the East Midlands have not yet complied. The new online branch accounting system (COBAS) has been designed to make this task easy for branch treasurers. 3.1.1.2 Branches must ensure that their AGMs are published on What’s Brewing – one branch recently did not inform RD or publish it (Standing Order 2). 3.1.1.3 There was some discussion as to branch committee members getting memos - to avoid overloading them they should only receive those pertinent to their roles (Branch contact should receive them all, and should ensure relevant members are aware of matters concerning them). This should work if the branch committee is up to date – the branch Chairman and Secretary can update online. RD to check all branch committees are up to date on the online system. 3.1.2 Thanks were awarded to Nick Molyneux (Nottingham) for the help he has given to branches applying to Newark and Sherwood council for ACVs. 3.2 Branch matters branch reports appended 3.2.1 The tasting training course to be held in Burton-on-Trent on 25

th March is

now to be held at the Burton Bridge Inn (relocated from the Coopers Tavern, owing to the uncertainty as to when the Coopers (currently undergoing refurbishment) will re-open).

East Midlands Regional Minutes 3

3.2.2 It was noted that, under the Melton Mowbray report, it should have stated that the beer festival returned a surplus – CAMRA is a not for profit organisation. 3.2.3 The National AGM & Conference is to be held at Bournemouth in April. Members should note that voting for the NE candidates must be done online or by post by 25

th March and will not be available at Conference. There is also a

Special Resolution (details in What’s Brewing) which members can vote on in advance or at Conference. 3.3 Tasting Panels 3.3.1 A brief report from Terry Lock, the regional tasting panel co-ordinator, appended. Any queries please contact Terry directly fgcpchair@gmail.com. 3.3.2 The tasting training to be held at Burton on 25

th March is fully booked.

Norman Hall (Hinckley & Bosworth) is now a fully accredited taste trainer and is planning a course to be held in the region in early May. 3.4 Pub of the year (POTY) and Club of the year (COTY) 3.4.1 The National POTY has been announced as the George & Dragon, Hudswell – a pub saved from closure by the local community. Extensive media coverage was generated. 3.4.2 Branches need to announce their POTY by 12 March by informing the RD plus the relevant AO and publishing it on the regional yahoo group. The yahoo group is to be replaced by a regional group on Discourse and branches must ensure at least one member joins this new group by requesting RD or Andy Shaw to add them. Data protection is stronger on Discourse and it can be set so as to send emails to members. Several attendees agreed that Discourse was difficult to understand and more explanation was needed – RD to ask Alexander Wright to issue more guidance for users. 3.4.3 Jon Whowell (Rutland) stated that his branch were unable to find judges to travel the considerable distances required in order to judge the other candidates in the county round, and therefore their POTY would not be entered. This is not a new problem. Derbyshire was split into north and south regions for similar reasons. RD to look into this to see if it can be made easier. West Midlands region have created their own suitable groups (not necessarily following county boundaries). 3.4.4 Branches are asked to inform RD and the relevant AO if they do not have a COTY, so that this does not need to be checked. 3.4.5 Branches are reminded to send RD a photo of their entry. At this point in the meeting RD invited Jim Witt to give a presentation on the West Midlands mapping project which he had instigated. He explained that he found that many branches did not know their own boundaries; some areas were covered by more than one branch and other areas, not at all. Often this

resulted in duplicate WhatPub entries. As HQ defines branch boundaries by postcode this often differs from branch opinion (rural postcode areas are often very large). An electronic solution was sought and worked out using open source software and maps (the Ordnance Survey have open availability of certain maps as long as copyright is acknowledged) and eventually a map of the complete West Midlands region was created with branch boundaries, which could be used to add e.g. county boundaries as well. The current membership system is a commercial system so unfortunately access cannot be granted to its database so plotting of member locations cannot be done. Jim is willing to train a group of volunteers to undertake a similar project in the East Midlands, where numerous queries over branch boundaries have been raised. Branches to ask for interested volunteers. 3.5 Branch Publication Awards Nothing to report this time. 3.6 NBSS and WhatPub 3.6.1 Development of WhatPub is ongoing. RD is on the steering group, any queries can be sent to him. 3.6.2 Important to keep pub closures up to date, as the data is now used by CAMRA for pub closure statistics. 3.6.3 Important to inform CAMRA if any plagiarism is taking place of the data on WhatPub. Perfect Pint has now closed down, but action was being considered against it as it was using information from WhatPub. As WhatPub is the leader in this area, keeping entries up to date will help keep it so. At this stage of the meeting RD invited the West Midlands Regional Finance Officer, Steve Edwards, to explain the role and its background. CAMRA has made a loss for the last two years and needs to get back to a break even situation. Branches need to ensure that surpluses are remitted to HQ (they can always be recalled if needed). The new online branch accounting system (COBAS) has been set up to enable branch and festival treasurers to keep accurate records in an easily accessible format. Year end accounts as requested by HQ are very easy when using this system The regional finance officer helps treasurers and branches run their financial affairs (information as to the remit of the role can be found on the national website). Volunteer(s) for the East Midlands are needed, help and mentoring is available. Steve can be contacted rfo.westmidlands@camra.org.uk, 07518 065668. As finance is important, it will be an agenda item in future under regional matters. 4. CAMPAIGNING 4.1 Current Campaigns 4.1.1 Current key campaigns are ongoing.

East Midlands Regional Minutes 4

4.1.2 The Neighbourhood Planning Bill is currently going through Parliament. A clause to remove permitted development rights for pubs (where pubs don’t need to go through a planning application for e.g. demolition) was defeated in the Commons but the bill is now in the Lords and CAMRA is lobbying for its inclusion. 4.1.3 The government is currently conducting a review of business rates in England and increases are likely to have a big impact on pubs this year. 4.2 Publications – inc GBG 4.2.1 GBG branch entries needed to be submitted to the relevant AO by 6 March, followed by submission to RD by 20

th. Proofs will be sent out to

branches as soon as available. The only way of achieving a shorter deadline before printing is if all current deadlines are met – which has never yet happened. 4.3 Beer Festivals – inc Champion Beer of Britain (CBOB) 4.3.1 There are now official guidelines set out as to how branches should approach joint event festivals and a template agreement has been published. It is important to ensure CAMRA receives an appropriate financial reward. 4.3.2 The new Alcohol Wholesalers Registration Scheme (AWRS) comes into force on 1 April. From that date anyone ordering alcohol for festivals must ask the suppliers for their registration number and check that the number is genuine using the HMRC website from April 1st. Non-compliance carries the risk of prosecution, fines and/or custodial sentences. Only certain small cider producers (production of less than 70hl/year) are exempt – these should be asked for their exemption reference number. Any stock sold on at the end of a festival will need CAMRA’s registration number to sell on legally. 4.3.3 The new Beer Festival Business Plan must now be used for festivals. This is still being updated so branches should always download the latest version from the beer festival hub on the members’ website. 4.3.4 Regional CBOB (report from Gillian Hough appended) – six categories have been judged since the last meeting and those certificates will be available for branches at the next regional meeting. Certificates for eight categories were available at the meeting and were distributed. 4.3.5 Local upcoming beer festivals include: Leicester 8-11 March; Burton 30 March-1 April (a special limited edition glass will be available at £3 commemorating the 300

th anniversary of William Bass); Newark – end May;

Three Valleys, 3 June. Nottingham BF will be held for the last time at the Castle 11-14 October (the Castle is undergoing refurbishment after this). The BF will in 2018 likely relocate to the Goose Fair site. 4.4. Membership – inc Young Members

4.4.1 New rates will apply from 1 April. Membership Secretaries should have had order forms for new publicity. 4.4.2 The next membership seminars are to be held on 11 and 18 November at various venues around the country. Ideally the Membership Secretary plus one other from the branch should attend. 4.5 Pubs Campaigns – inc. Public Transport Campaigning 4.5.1 There was a meeting of the Public Transport Support group at Bristol recently. The emphasis is now on getting people to use the facilities that are currently available. Only 54 branches nationally have appointed Branch Public Transport Officers (this does not have to be a committee role). 4.5.2 Best practice – branches are reminded to have bus timetables available at beer festivals; ale trails should include public transport information; useful if pubs have copies of local timetables. 4.5.3 Local news – the 747 bus service Leicester/Uppingham has been confirmed for a further 12 months (was threatened with withdrawal owing to lack of full fare paying customers); East Midlands train franchise soon up for renewal; proposed Leicester city circular bus service. 5. INDUSTRY 5.1. Brewery including BLC Report. 5.1.1 Branches are asked to recommend BLO candidates to Steve Westby. Many vacancies listed last time have been filled but more are required. Branches are also asked to look at BLOs that have not reported for two quarters, to ensure they report next time. 5.1.2 Gillian Hough (Derventio BLO) referred members to her report, where it states that Derventio use Complete Bottling, a company based in Derby www.completebottling.co.uk. Often small breweries bottle by hand, a time consuming process, so knowledge of this company might be useful to them. 5.1.3 A query was raised as to whether Bass Mild, encountered recently in a pub in the Grimsby and North East Lincs branch being served via handpull, could be real ale. It was not known if so, where it could be brewed. (Note: this was subsequently found to be a keg beer). 5.2. Cider Matters 6.2.1 Branches have been requested to submit candidates for regional cider POTY by 12 March. 6.2.2 May is a promotional month for cider. 6.2.3 Nottingham are organising a Cider trail in June/July, along the lines of the stout/porter and Mild trails that they already do. 6.2.4 Important to encourage pubs to stock at least one East Midlands cider – also at beer festivals

East Midlands Regional Minutes 5

6.2.5 Dee Wright (Nottingham) is standing down from her cider roles at their next AGM, including the East Midlands regional cider judging event held at Nottingham Beer Festival. This event could be held at another festival - or another person could run it at Nottingham. 5.3. Pub Chains 5.3.1 Nothing new to report from Pub People Company. 5.3.2 The proposed takeover of 1,900 Punch pubs by Heineken is being investigated by the Competitions and Market Authority as to the impact on choice of products available. Many landlords are alarmed at the prospect of e.g. having to replace Carling lager, which in some cases could threaten their survival. CAMRA will duly make submissions to this investigation and has already published an open letter to Heineken on the subject. 6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS 6.1. Three members from Hinckley & Bosworth had undertaken the bar manager’s training course recently at NWAF and had all passed. 6.2 Thanks were given to Konrad Machej and his team at the Derby Winter Festival, who signed up a record number (243) of new members 6.3 An invitation is extended to East Midlands members to a Regional Mild Day Social to be held in Burton-on-Trent on 13 May. Further details to follow. 6.4 RD is open to suggestions/requests as to guest speakers (a certain member of the National Executive or member of staff) at future regional meetings. 6.5 NA gave a brief update as to the findings of the Revitalisation group. The steering group has now stepped down and the results have gone to the NE, who is now looking at the recommendations and their possible impact. There will be workshops at Bournemouth on the subject and any proposed changes will be voted on at the 2018 Conference. 8. Dates & Venues of future meetings 10 June – Railway Club, Grantham; 2 Sep – Wheatsheaf, Bingham (Vale of Belvoir) and 25 Nov – Erewash (venue TBC). Thanks were given to Hinckley & Bosworth CAMRA for the arrangements. There being no further business the meeting closed at precisely 4p.m. Standing Orders These (previously minuted under Action Minutes) are ongoing actions with which it is expected that all branches will continue to comply, and should be seen by all on the branch committee.

1 Monthly what’s Brewing branch diary entries. Very important that branches should get monthly diary entries into What’s Brewing as this is the first point of contact with members. Branches should aim to arrange meetings three months in advance, to achieve this. 2 Inform RD/Deputy RD/AOs of meetings to attend and also any changes in date or venue. RD must be informed directly and at earliest possible opportunity, to avoid diary clashes. 3 Copies of branch minutes to the RD – Best sent regularly rather than several together. 4 Branch committees to discuss HQ mailouts at meetings. Following discussion, relevant items can be reported to the branch meeting. 5 Branches to ensure all committee members have seen the Code of Conduct. This should be sent to all committee members on an annual basis, to remind. 6 All branches are required to appoint a Public Affairs Officer (this is a role distinct from press & publicity and involves dealing with e.g. MPs and local authorities), a Pubs Preservation Officer, a Clubs Officer and a Young Members branch contact, and to inform HQ who they are. Branch committee details can be updated directly online by the Chairman and/or Secretary. 7 All branches to send quarterly reports, plus representative(s) to regional meetings (expenses can be claimed). Not all branches are represented each time, though some attend regularly. 8 All branches to have at least one member joined to the new regional Discourse group. 9 Report access problems with membership system. No known current problems. 10 Branches to contact new members. Letters should be sent to new members welcoming them and inviting them to forthcoming events. Suggested that, for those joining at beer festivals, they be invited to a new members social ASAP afterwards, which should be planned in advance of the festival. 11 Newsletters to contain membership details inc DD form. This needs to be legible. It must also be updated when membership details change. 12 Inform members via newsletters to check that their membership entry includes DOB. Many longstanding members have not had their DOB recorded at HQ. 13 Branch magazines to be sent to the RD – checked for libel and also assessed for Branch Publication Awards (four copies needed). To be continued to be sent by post (not in electronic format) as any questions as to content can more easily be referred to. 14 Branches also need to send one copy of magazines to St Albans – to Claire-Michelle Taverner-Pearson. Copies also need to be sent to the Agency for Legal Deposit Library (one copy) as well as the British Library (one copy).

East Midlands Regional Minutes 6

15 Branches to have Locale page on website. Wherever appropriate. 16 Circulation of BLC report and any other items deemed relevant, to committee members inc newsletter editors by branch contact. Branch contact has important role in ensuring relevant items are circulated. 17 BLO appointments should be reviewed at least annually. BLOs are required to send in a quarterly report or ‘nothing to report’ if applicable. If the BLO is not reporting regularly the branch should consider recommending a replacement. 18 Branches to inform RD of any contact with the major pub chains. e.g. Punch, Enterprise, Wetherspoons. Marston’s and Greene King have good BLO contacts and pub issues are covered as well as brewing. 19 Branches to send details of ale trails to RD and Andy Shaw (Key Campaign 4). 20 Branches to include cider activity in their regional reports. To include e.g. cider sales at beer festivals, any new pubs reported selling ciders. Recently there has been a large increase in interest in cider. 21 Branches to endeavour to get at least one pub listed as community asset. Branches to publish pubs so listed on the regional yahoo group. 22 Branches to ensure all Heritage pub details are uploaded into WhatPub, even if they don’t currently sell real ale, so that they get a pub ID. 23 Send a list of pubs converted to supermarkets in last 2 years to RD - Branches to continue to send. Any updates need to be recorded via Pubzilla or equivalent. 24 Branches must send in copy of end of year returns to RD & CAMRA HQ (Finance). 25 Branches must have a copy of the Branch Constitution logged at CAMRA HQ. 26 Branches to ensure pub closure data is kept up to date on WhatPub. 27 Branches to ensure activation is named item on branch agendas.

ACTION MINUTES from E.M. Reg Meeting at Hinckley

No

Min/Ref. Action Whom

1 6.15/4.6.1- 9.16/2.22.1

Branches to ask for volunteer to assist with new regional website

Branches

2 3.17/3.1.1.3 RD to check all branch committees are up to date on online system

RD

3 3.17/3.4.2 Branches to ensure at least one member joins the regional Discourse group

Branches

4 3.17/3.4.3 Branches to ask for volunteers to set up and implement a regional mapping project

Branches

5 3.17/3.6.3 Branches to ask for volunteers for the post of Regional Finance Officer

Branches

RW/15.03.17

East Midlands Regional Minutes 7

BRANCH & OTHER REPORTS: REGIONAL MEETING 4th MARCH 2017: HINCKLEY

Amber Valley 1. News / Awards POTY was won by The White Hart at Bargate (1st timer), runner up The Holly Bush, Makeney; presentations take place on 13/3/17. The Winter Ale Trail run jointly with Derby Branch and featuring 16 pubs in Amber Valley was won by The Talbot, Ripley, a great win by new landlords Steve & Angela who took over the license from Amber Ales in early October last year. The branch also decided to award a copy of GBG'17 to the 3 members who had made the highest contribution to beer scores in What Pub. 2. Beer Festivals (CAMRA festivals or those that have CAMRA-involvement) The branch received budget approval for running the real ale bar at Belper Goes Green eco-festival, 3-5th June - one of the rugby club changing rooms is racked out for beer stillages and this year a one-way system will be tried out to prevent queuing in front of the counter. Last year's AVBF generated a surplus of £4521 and planning is underway for this September's event again at Strutt Community Centre, Belper. 3. Membership activation/Young members - our AGM on 23rd Feb was attended by 23 members. Fortunately 2 members stepped forward to fill the roles of (a) Webmaster (Sean Mckeown replacing Phil Marshall) and (b) Luke Bettison nominated as Yong members rep - welcome to both and also to 2 further members who volunteered to become BLOs (Andy Darlington - Shottle and Ben Simons for Hairy Brewers). This success in filling positions was massively encouraging to our committee, and very positive news for the future. Membership reached 881 on 16/2/17. 4. What do you do to promote beer scoring? Monthly beer surveys re-started in early February changing over to Friday nights due to minibus availability and fully booked on this occasion. Last year's 8 minibus surveys generated 730 beer scores at 55 different pubs by 36 different people of whom 7 joined for the 1st time There were 3800 beer scores (a record high)submitted over 12 months on What Pub allowing the selection of GBG'18 entries from a substantial database. 5. Pub preservation news (including ACVs) The Spotted Cow in Holbrook, subject to a community-led ACV in the face of housing development, last month succeeded in raising over £200k by combined share offer and crowdfunding, and its future is rapidly coming to a conclusion at the local council's committee. "The applicant for change of use/development is claiming not only that there is no interest in the village in saving it, but also that there has never been any interest in buying the Cow as

a pub since it closed. Neither assertion is true". Although the branch has not participated to date, it is considering an objective response in support of the Holbrook Community Society's campaign to retain it. 6. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice Some 306 members submitted entries to our POTY initial nomination stage covering 35 different pubs - both this and the 2nd judging stage were published to the membership using HQ COMMS tool as was the AGM notification which was issued to 608 members with known e-mails and was read by 42% of them. The communication alternative, Mailchimp is used for beer festival matters and receives a far higher open rate from a smaller audience (up to 79%), reflecting interest by those much more actively involved. 7. Anything else ? HQ's Membership Dashboard:- the branch contact has expressed frustration at trying to locate particular items in the various listings on CAMRA's website. For example, there are 7 full pages of branch memos and 3 pages of Beer Festival documents, none of which are in alphabetic order nor with any search facility, leading to questions of whether it is member-and-user-friendly. Has any other branch encountered similar difficulty? Nora Harper, Secretary noraharper@hotmail.com Ashbourne & District We have just completed our Pub of the Year voting and the two award winners are the Barley Mow at Kirk Ireton in the country category and Artisan in Ashbourne in the town category, with Artisan gaining the highest overall mark and the overall Pub of the Year title. Membership is creeping up towards the 100 mark and we are seeing a welcome increase in new faces attending the monthly meetings as well. Our 5th beer festival has been set for Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd September, returning once again to Ashbourne Town Hall. Mark Grist, Chairman m.grist2@sky.com

Burton & South Derbyshire

1. News / Awards Still no news of any serious offers being made for the Burton Bridge Brewery and its pub estate. After 10+ years in charge, the landlady of the classic Coopers Tavern, Burton, left in January to take on the Craven Arms, Birmingham. Prior to a new licensee taking over, the Coopers Tavern has closed for 3-4 weeks for ‘improvements’, but there have been numerous contradictory rumours regarding the extent of these changes, particularly to the “historic pub interior

East Midlands Regional Minutes 8

of national importance”. Concern has been expressed by the Branch and others (including the local MP) that the very essence of the pub could be destroyed, and articles on the subject have appeared in the local press. While these fears have been partially allayed by the owners, Joule’s Brewery, we remain vigilant. The Tollgate Brewery’s second micropub, the Tap at No.76 in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, opened in November as expected and is reportedly doing very well. Two local breweries have won regional Champion Beer of Britain 2016 awards. In the East Midlands, the Leatherbritches Brewery won both the Gold and Silver Awards in the RAIB Light Category for Scary Hairy and Hairy Helmet respectively. In the West Midlands, the Blythe Brewery won the Bronze Award in the Porter Category for its Johnson’s. 2. Beer Festivals The organisation of the 2017 Burton Beer & Cider Festival at Burton Town Hall is progressing and staffing forms have been widely circulated. Following AB InBev’s approving our use of the Bass red triangle logo, there will be a special souvenir glass to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of William Bass. Posters and flyers are already being distributed. The dates for this year’s event are Thursday 30th March to Saturday 1st April. 3. Membership Activation / Young Members Nominal Branch membership has increased to ~650, including 67 under-35s, but despite continuing extensive publicity and the prospect of discussing the GBG2018 short-list, average attendance at recent monthly Branch meetings (8) has been even more dismal than usual.

The Branch rolling pub survey programme has virtually ground to a halt for

the time being, with the few active Branch members concentrating on PotY

judging, GBG2018 surveying, and Burton Beer Festival organisation. Recent social/campaigning events have included a Xmas dinner/social, a trip to the annual West Midlands Regional Awards ceremony, the annual ‘Sinai Stagger’ New Year’s Day pub walk, and a presentation social (for the Blythe Brewery; see News/Awards). Due to the proximity of the Burton Beer Festival, there are no planned social events in the near future. However, a post-Festival trip to Bishops Castle in early May has been arranged.

There have been no recent Young Members activities. 4. CBoB Voting, Beer Scoring Promotion, Good Beer Guide and Pub-of-the-Year Nothing to report on CBoB voting or beer scoring.

Based on 2016 beer scores, a GBG2018 short-list was drawn up and official surveyors were appointed at our January Branch meeting. The ‘final decisions’ meeting and the submission of our selections are imminent. The judging of our Pub-of-the-Year short-list is still underway, using the national criteria to assess and score the contenders, and should be completed shortly. 5. Pub Preservation and ACV Nominations

The ACV nomination of the Royal Oak, Barton-under-Needwood, has been

submitted to East Staffordshire Borough Council.

Admiral Taverns, the owner of the Derby Inn, Burton, has raised objections

to the pub’s ACV registration by East Staffordshire Borough Council. These

objections are essentially spurious and irrelevant, and ESBC have been

advised accordingly.

6. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice Nothing to report. 7. Other Information A Branch ‘Heat Map’ of activities has been generated and can be viewed on the CAMRA West Midlands website under Branch Data. A Taste Training Course in Burton is planned for Saturday 25th March, probably at the Burton Bridge Inn, but other details have not yet been finalised. The Branch is hosting the West Midlands Regional Mild Trail on Saturday 13th May and a small Sub-Committee has been set up to plan this event.

Mike Gibson, Chairman michael.gibson@care4free.net Chesterfield We’ve held yet another very successful Winter Beer Festival with lots of customers – old and new, young and old enjoying an excellent selection of beers. We’ve chosen our 2017 Pub of the Year, the Arkwright Arms a past Branch and Regional and Regional Cider Pub of the Year winner. Our Winter Pub of the Season is the ‘Taphouse’, Brampton where excellent Barlow Brewery beers are always available. We had an interesting and highly participative Good Beer Guide selection meeting where members we had not seen before took part fully. Mick Portman, Chairman mick.portman@gmail.com

East Midlands Regional Minutes 9

Derby

1.News/ Awards- As you may be aware we have just had our Winter Ales

festival, which gave us the opportunity to present, in a public forum, our branch pub and club awards. Presentations were made at the opening trade session. Cider Pub of the Year: Babington Arms, Club of the Year: Victory Club, Allenton, Overall Pub of the Year: Brunswick Inn City Pub of the Year Winner: Brunswick Inn City Pub of the Year Finalist: Alexandra Hotel, City Pub of the Year Finalist: Falstaff, Country Pub of the Year Winner: Royal Oak, Ockbrook, Country Pub of the Year Finalist: Town Street Tap, Duffield, Country Pub of the Year Finalist: Chip & Pin, Melbourne, 2. Beer festivals. We have just had our Winter Ales festival under the leadership of both Winter and Summer chair, Russ Gilbert. This has been a resounding success, in this it's first year return since the NWAF moved to Norwich. All beer was sold. 3. Membership/Activation - The recent festival would not have taken place had it not been for an input from a number of newly activated members, who were previously enthused by our campaigns coordinator, Tim Williams. At the festival itself 243 members were signed up. Congratulations to our membership secretary Konrad Machej and his team for their sterling efforts. We hope that at least some of them may become active members in the future. It was noted that the percentage of under 26 people signing up was declining. There is a continuing committee discussion about how we can rectify this situation. 4. Beer scoring. We have had a new volunteer, Anne Crawford, who is taking our vacant post as social secretary. As part of her brief she will be organising surveys and will be encouraging members to participate by scoring pubs on such visits and their wider social lives. 5. Pub Preservation/ ACVs. Pub preservation officer Mark Fletcher is keeping abreast of planning and alteration details. Ian Forman, Derby Branch Secretary ianforman@btinternet.com Dronfield & District

1) Since last meeting we’ve made several awards, including Winter POTS 2016 -17 (Rutland Arms, Holmesfield), Cider POTY (Traveller’s Rest @ Apperknowle), and Branch POTY 2017 (Miner’s Arms, Hundall).

By this meeting, all presentations will have been made / arranged. ‘Peel Ale’ continues to thrive, with issue 3 available soon, and we’re about to establish the Locale scheme within our branch. We’ve also chosen our GBG 2018 entries.

2) We’ve helped at the Winding Wheel Festival in Chesterfield, and members of our branch also visited the recent Manchester Festival. We continue to look for a suitable venue for the first Dronfield Festival, which will hopefully take place in 2018. Beer festivals taking place in our branch area include one at Hilltop Sports and Social Club (28

th

April – 1st May) and the always popular 3 Valleys (3rd June) – we look

forward to seeing some of you then! 3) Membership continues to grow, currently standing at 149. We’ve

enjoyed a variety of socials, including a branch trip to Doncaster, a trip to pubs in the Amber Valley area, a ‘43’ crawl round Whittington Moor, a trip to Wakefield, and a well - attended potter around the town centre pubs. Future planned events include brewery visits, a visit to the Brampton pubs and a joint social with members of Mansfield and Ashfield and Doncaster branches. We’re also in the early stages of planning our first lady member’s day trip, with a day in York planned for June.

4) At a recent meeting members were encouraged to use the NBSS as often as possible, and we’re happy to report greatly increased participation in the scheme. We intend that this will play a greater role in selecting pubs for branch awards / GBG entries in future.

5) Mixed news on the pubs in our area. We now have our first ‘micro pub’ – Smiffy’s – and a previously keg only music bar – 10A – now serves locally brewed real ales. In contrast, the Fleur De Lys is up for sale with planning permission granted for houses, and the future of two others seems uncertain. There is an ACV in place for the Coach and Horses.

Graham Hall, Secretary ghall@fsmail.net Erewash Valley No report received Fenland The last few months have been taken up with researching pubs for the GBG. This is now complete. As with other branches, a lot of miles have been covered to do this with a very few members. Ena Woodburn enawoodburn@gmail.com

East Midlands Regional Minutes 10

Gainsborough Gainsborough Branch has now started making preparations for the 9

th beer

festival, now the use of the usual venue, Gainsborough Old Hall has been confirmed. Elm Cottage, Gainsborough were awarded the branch pub of the year, for the second year running and the certificate was presented in January. 8 Jolly Brewers, Gainsborough was voted winter pub of the season with the presentation taking place on 22

nd February.

Several branch members attend Derby Winter Ales Festival on Saturday 18th

February and had an enjoyable day out. A coach trip took place on Saturday 25

th February to Chesterfield for the beer festival wash up trip and this was

well attended. Unfortunately, the only brewery in the branch, Grafters stopped brewing around Christmas time and then the pub next door to the brewery closed down on 11

th February. Discussion has taken place about applying for an ACV on

the pub. At this time it is not known what the future holds for the pub and the brewery. Helen Warburton, Secretary hwarburton1979@yahoo.co.uk Grantham Grantham Branch did not have such a bad year in 2016 as we increased our membership and held a successful Beer Festival. The details are that we gained 25 new members over the year which is an improvement of 10% over the previous year. As far as the Beer Festival was concerned our attendance was up, we sold more beer, our food consumption increased, we sold more glasses and our sponsorship was higher. So overall we were very pleased, so many thanks to all who supported us. We will be holding another one this year at the same venue with hopefully some improvements on last year for your further enjoyment. Please come and see us, all are welcome. Our pub of the year is The Green Man at Ropsley,our town pub is Beer Headz oand our club of the year is the Ancaster Sports and Social Club at Ancaster. All well worth a visit. Neville Lomas, Chairman nlomas180@btinternet.com Grimsby & NE Lincolnshire Very little to report here in Grimsby & NE Lincolnshire, our beer festival looks to have made a small profit but as usual and in a similar position to all

branches we still seem to find getting members to turn out to meetings or social gatherings difficult. It's our AGM on the 13th of March when the CAMRA members will learn who are in the winners in the POTY. Dawn Nielsen, Chairman dawn100006485@hotmail.co.uk

Hinckley & Bosworth News – Planning is underway for our two BFs; the 2018 GBG entries were decided and submitted and results of POTY, COTY and Cider POTY voting are imminent. Market Bosworth Brewery is currently bottling beer while the owner is unfit to fill casks. Elliswood Brewery is producing Fosse 107 IPA for Leicester BF to celebrate 50 years of local radio. Some members will take part in Beer Appreciation course at Coopers Tavern Burton 25 March. CAMRA BFs – Market Bosworth Rail Ale 21-23 July with a new BFO Bex Oakes; Hinckley BF with Three Brewers Theme 14-16 September at the Atkins Building and Hinckley Museum. Promoting Beer Scoring – Is encouraged at each branch meeting. Membership is now 572. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice – A must-read new Half Pint is available; our Quarterly Accounts are approved and planning for our Three Brewers Project moves on apace. Socials included Mystery Trips, a Xmas Walkabout and Meal, the NH Trophy contest with Nuneaton CAMRA, BF trips to Manchester, Hucknall, Derby, Rugby and Amblecote in the Black Country Average turnout at last three branch meetings is 45 with one record-breaking total of 59! Richard Lewin, Secretary secretary@hinckleyandbosworthcamra.org.uk Leicester The branch is in the midst of preparations for the Leicester Beer Festival at the Charotar Patidar Samaj on Bay Street, off St Margaret’s Way from 8

th to 11

th

March. One innovation this year is a gin and prosecco bar to provide an alternative for those attending who do not want to drink beer or cider. Otherwise expect the usual mix of local and guest real ales, ciders, bottled beers, curries and cobs. Adjustments made to the process for selecting pub of the year, including providing a short list and making online voting easier appear to have increased participation significantly. The result will be announced at the end of the beer festival. Planning is starting for the annual Mild Trail in May. We are expecting the number of pubs participating to increase, reflecting the growing number of

East Midlands Regional Minutes 11

Free Houses and micropubs in the area. Conversations have taken place with Hinckley & Bosworth branch about including pubs in their area, following a request by a pub co to include their pubs in that area. We have published an updated version of our city centre real ale pub guide which is widely distributed around the city and is available on the branch website. Since publication the Charlotte has closed and the tenants at the Swan & Rushes have given notice that they are leaving. The branch chairman, the BLO and another committee member met with senior representatives of Everards brewery to discuss their plans for some pubs which are changing their character as they are refurbished and their plans for their future in brewing, with planning permission granted for a shopping centre on the current brewing site and plans for a new brewery nearby proceeding with a gap between the closing of the former and opening of the latter. Philip Tiplady, Branch Secretary secretary@leicester.camra.org.uk Lincoln News - The owner of Cathedral Heights Brewery and the Hop & Barley

micropub is working on a new project. The Craft Rooms will open soon in central Lincoln, with real ales, craft keg and world beers.

- The Penny Farthing at Timberland (on the edge of the Branch area to the south-east of Lincoln) will reopen on 3rd March, having been closed since 2015. Planning permission to convert the pub to housing was refused.

- Anna, the landlady of the Strugglers Inn, was awarded Punch Regional Publican of the Year.

- The Lincoln Imp, Lincoln, and the Chase, Market Rasen, have closed. Lincoln Imp is becoming a food store and Chase a funeral parlour.

- The results of the Branch Pub of the Year will be announced at the Branch meeting on 9th March.

Beer Festivals - The business plan for the Lincoln Beer Festival has been approved.

We managed to get it in just before the new format was introduced. Activation - A number of Branch members who had not previously been active

have volunteered to sit on a Lincoln tasting panel. - Some new faces have volunteered to assist with the distribution of

ImpAle.

Beer Scoring - Despite appeals, the number of members submitting beer scores

remains low. Hot Topics - A new Branch Treasurer volunteered at the AGM in November. - Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln, has asked to meet up with local

CAMRA members. We will be having a drink with him at the Cardinal's Hat on 24th February.

Steve Renshaw, Secretary steve_ren@hotmailcom Loughborough & North Leicestershire News / Awards Branch News Our AGM in November went reasonably well, and the election of officers and committee members was done with the slightest of ease, bar the post of treasurer, this seems a post people are less than enthusiastic about, but luckily by the January we had someone come forward and he was voted in at the January meeting. The Gallery 20 Swan St, Loughborough LE11 5BL has been bought by a chain, and is now called The Bell Foundry, but the venue still caters for the clientele it always has, people who wish to watch live sport and drink larger. The Boat Inn, Meadow Lane, Loughborough, LE11 1JN, is still a Marstons, but under new management, with more than an eye to try and improve the image of the place. The Soar Bridge, 29 Bridge St, Barrow upon Soar, Loughborough LE12 8PN. is soon up for new management as the current tenant is retiring. Awards December 2016 saw the branch hand over the award for Cider Pub of the year to the needle and pin, this was gratefully received as it coincided with the Micro pub celebrating a year since it opened its doors. Also December saw the branch vote for our Pub Of The Year Award 2017, which with little surprise it was awarded to the White Hart, 27 Churchgate, Loughborough, LE11 1UD. The White Hart, Reopened in 2013 as a free house after an extensive refurbishment. It regularly has changing guest beers from local breweries such as Leatherbritches and Charnwood. Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby is also a regular. Since opening it has won various awards from us, as the continued hard work by the owners doesn’t go unnoticed (Most Improved Pub of 2013, Town Pub 2014, pub of the year 2016 and now pub of the year 2017.) Beer Festivals The branch is all ready and raring to go as 2

nd- 4

th march sees

The Loughborough’s 41st CAMRA Beer Festival, we are proud to be one of the

longest running beer festivals in the country. This year we are featuring Beers

East Midlands Regional Minutes 12

from The Q Brewery, The Anstey Ale Brewery, And The Frame Work Brewery. Our Cider pub of the year The Needle and Pin has donated a box of cider for the festival, the cider was made for their year anniversary by the Bottle Kicking Cider Company, and is called originally the Needle and Pin Medium. Membership activation/Young members Membership has been steady for the branch with little or no change. Branch Attendance Our branch attendance is stable and we frequently get twelve or more members at meetings. Alexander Skerritt, Secretary loughboroughcamra.secretary@gmail.com

Louth No report received Mansfield & Ashfield The branch held another very successful Real Ale and Cider festival at the Post Mill Centre South Normanton and on the strength of this have the venue rebooked fro the end of October this year for our fifth visit. A joint venture with Nottingham branch saw a very busy Hucknall festival which was practically sold out of beer and cider by close on Sunday afternoon. Several members were on hand to help judging at Chesterfield ‘s festival, Derby Winter Beer festival and the recent Champion Beer of Nottinghamshire where one branch brewery, Kings Clipstone, managing to get into the runners up category with their Moonbeam. Membership continues to edge ever closer to the 1000 mark but has yet to pass it! We continue to use Ale and Apple to serve as a reminder to all readers to input beer scores and detail how this can be done and to campaign on branch issues, but still activation remains an unsolved feature of the branch for both new and existing members. Planning is well under way for the next Mild in May promotion and the branch is helping to set up a first Real Ale and Cider Festival at a local Industrial Heritage site, Pleasley Pit, to be held on the first May bank Holiday weekend. In the main, all socials and survey evenings continue to be well attended. We as a branch have been asked to help nominate a pub for ACV status and this is being looked into. Mick Bull, Chairman chair@mansfield.camra.org.uk Matlock & Dales News and Awards

After several months of branch uncertainty the AGM gave fresh hope for the future of the branch. Key posts were filled with a local businessman Rob Short, elfuturo0@gmail.com, taking on the role of branch Chairman. The branch POTY was won for their second time by the Druid Inn at Birchover, GBG p 104, and a very pleasant presentation evening was held a few weeks later. Beer Festivals Following on from the enormous success of the Matlock County Hall BF in 2016 the venue has been provisionally booked for Oct 20 /21

st 2017 although

there are some key issues to be ironed out. Membership Now stands at 260 with 26 signing up at the Beer Festival. Beer Scoring Despite appeals at meetings and in member newsletters the number of beer scores is declining although scores from members outside the MAD membership has increased. AVC’s The owner of the Three Stags Head at Darley Bridge was successful in his appeal against the AVC and the branch awaits news on the Jug and Glass at Lea. Anything Else The Remarkable Hare in Matlock is the latest pub to be LocAle accredited bringing the number to 22 with the now opened Feather Star micro-pub in Wirksworth soon to be No. 23. Earlier reports that the Feather is a Shiny pub are not correct but their beers are regularly available there. The Old Bank Café Bar, Matlock Bath opened its doors to good reviews in late January but has temporarily had to close whilst a licensing issue is resolved. Peter Boitoult, peterb56@hotmail.co.uk Melton Mowbray 1. News / Awards: The branch is busy surveying pubs for the GBG shortlist

and POTY.

2. Beer Festivals: The Branch has received its share of the Beer Festival profits. A healthy £1112. Planning is starting for the 2017 festival.

3. Membership: 4. Promoting Beer Scoring: 5. Pub preservation news (including ACVs): Previously it was reported that

Melton Borough Council had rejected our ACV application (Bell at Frisby)

East Midlands Regional Minutes 13

on the basis that CAMRA branches cannot nominate pubs as ACVs. We had responded with evidence that a Judicial Review has already decided that we can in Lewisham. The challenge continues. In the meantime, an ACV is being prepared for the Boat in Melton Mowbray.”

6. Hot Topics, Successes, Best Practice: 7. Other: The branch had an enjoyable outing to Ely Beer Festival. This is

starting to become a regular event on the branch calendar. Nigel Wood, Secretary, 01664 562034. nigewood@gmail.com Newark 1. News / Awards POTY Newark Town is Just Beer Newark. Also goes forward to county POTY POTY Newark District is Final Whistle Southwell. Award day March 5

th. Free

coach. Cider POTY 2016/17 The Vaults Newark. 2. Beer Festivals (CAMRA festivals or those that have CAMRA-involvement) Newark Beer and Cider festival Riverside Park May 26 to 28

th. £3 per pint.

Charity MIND. 3. Membership activation/Young members New members on committee and coming to meetings. One young member discussing Facebook Twitter and # 4. What do you do to promote beer scoring? We have started survey trips to far corners of our branch. Key aim all to do beer scores. 5. Pub preservation news (including ACVs) New ACV on The Chequers awarded Feb 2017. Owners closed pub early Jan and want to convert to a house or sell. Funfair brewery ( behind pub ) not brewing at the moment. We have supported the application for ACV for The Crown Inn Bathley Plough at Coddington has reopened. 6. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice Award to Bob Smith for 18 years continuous service to branch as treasurer. New editor for BGP. Nigel Russell. Articles needed. Discussion of what craft beer is. Should CAMRA be doing more to keep pubs open? Eg low cost loans, awards, grants. 7. Anything else ? Which branch is Brownlow Arms, High Marnham, Newark NG23 6SG in?

Pubs in Newark Together (PINT) more organised and working well promoting real ale. Winter beer festival, Drink for Ye Olde England, Gin in June, cider week, CAMRA IPA Trail July 28 to Aug 6

th, Ale-Oween Beer festival in Oct.

Newark CAMRA website used more for news. Andrew Birkhead, Chairman birkheadandrew@hotmail.com North Notts News / Awards Steve Bownes, North Notts Branch Chairman for the past 15 years, passed away on 23

rd January.

The Mallard Worksop, wins the POTY. Beer Festivals No involvement with CAMRA festivals to report. Membership Activation / Young Members We currently have 367 members a net increase of 10 since our AGM in April 2016. A lack of young members seems to be a problem (3 members aged 26 and 4 under 26). After our AGM on the 5th April, the intention will be to concentrate on this area. Beer Scoring Now an agenda item at Branch meetings. Report at each meeting on the number of reporters and beers scored since the previous meeting. Stress to members the relevance of beer scores for pubs to be considered for the GBG. Recently invited members to join in on pub visits and scoring beers as we go along, guiding members who needed help with this. Pub Preservation / ACV's Not had much branch involvement here, but will be supporting Nick Molyneaux with pub protection in the Newark Area. Hot Topics etc Recent successes with beer scoring, visiting Town pubs on walkabouts and car sharing on Village pubs visits. This activity got a number of members involved for the first time in beer scores. We used beer scores for the main qualification into the GBG by selecting 4 town pubs and 4 village pubs and had an open meeting of the members to vote for a further 2 town pubs and 4 village pubs from a total of 25 put forward by the committee. The results of which were not announced to keep the confidentiality. This is the first time that we have involved the members in this process. Anything Else Could we consider a poster to be displayed in pubs to help promote beer scoring? Also leaflets to accompany these. Terry Johnson, Secretary terryjohnson838@gmail.com

East Midlands Regional Minutes 14

Northampton The branch annual trip to London was very successful and well supported. The Christmas meal was held at The White Horse, Old, a former Pub of the Season. It was quite an eventful evening and we still await the results of the quiz! The weekend before Christmas saw a Pub Crawl around Towcester, a local town with Roman origins sitting on the A5. A Twixtmas social meeting was held at the Coach and Horses, Wellingborough. This was the branch Pub of the Year and went on to become Area Pub of the Year last year. The AGM was held at The Albion Brewery Bar, Northampton. It was very well attended, and despite two resignations from the committee the committee was re-elected and two offers to fill the vacancies were made. The chairman reported a successful year for the branch and membership has grown by 10% over the year. A branch social at the Queen Adelaide, Northampton. one of our successful pubs, was planned to recognise the work of the landlord who was planning to move on, but is remaining for the present. Later in the month we had our annual Curry Night. The saddest news has been the closure of the Whistling Kite Brewery due to personal reasons. This has been a very successful brewery winning awards at beer festivals. Plans for Northampton Beer Festival continue, and a request for volunteers from the membership to help has been made on the website. The website continues to thrive, and Whatpub is being updated whilst beer scoring. The beer scoring is being used to help us select entries for the Good Beer Guide. Anna Trimble anna.triman@gmail.com Nottingham 1. News / Awards Edition 139 of Nottingham Drinker is due out at the end of March, 2017 and will include the annual mild trail. Edition 138 now out includes the Stout & Porter stroll. 2. Beer Festivals (CAMRA festivals or those that have CAMRA-involvement) i) The 2017 festival will again be held in the ground of Nottingham Castle – Wednesday 11

th to Saturday 14

th October, 2017.

ii) The 2018 festival has to move due to major works at the Castle. This is likely to be at the Goose Fair site, which will considerably increase capacity.

Dates will have to change because of Goose Fair, to be confirmed, but may well be early September. iii) Hucknall B&C Festival (twentieth anniversary) took place Friday 10

th to

Sunday (lunch) 12th February, 2017.

3. Membership activation/Young members Membership stood at 6046 as at 31

st Jan 2017. Chris Farman has resigned as

Young Members contact and a replacement is currently being sought. 4. What do you do to promote beer scoring/CBOB voting? The Branch Newsletter has highlighted the need for people to vote for CBoB. Branch/Committee meetings are reminded of the need to do this and score pubs for consideration in the National GBG. There is also an article in ND138. Dylan Pavier, Tasting Panel chair, continues to organise tasting Panels. The Nottingham Facebook pages and twitter accounts continue to be well used. 5. Pub preservation news (including ACVs) Nick Molyneux continues to promote ACVs in the Branch Area and beyond, with support recently given to VoB and MMD in establishing their own Pub Protection Programmes. There are currently 96 ACV protected pubs in the Branch Area. Newark & Sherwood continue to progress the consideration of an Article 4 Direction to remove permitted development rights on pubs in their local authority area. The support for this idea given by VoB, N Notts and Mansfield & Ashfield is gratefully acknowledged. Central England Coop gave a presentation at the January Branch Meeting and we are waiting to hear from the Coop regarding their Code of Practice re using pubs. RBS has responded to the query re applications for business loans being made harder by ACV status and have confirmed that those who seek business loans to run pubs as pubs should not find the ACV an obstacle to getting the loan. Considerable work has also been done to add details to the "Historic Interest" section of "Whatpub" for Nottingham Branch Area pubs, including listed status, ACV details, local authority and parliamentary constituency details.Work also being undertaken with the Nottingham City Archaeologist, the British Geological Survey and the York Archaeological Trust regarding the location of historic cave cellars beneath pubs. 6. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice i) See ACV above. ii) Champion Beer of Nottinghamshire (CBoN) fifth year event took place in February. 7. Anything else? Copies of ND will be brought to Regional meetings, where possible, and will be also available for downloading from www.nottinghamcamra.org. Andrew C Ludlow, Secretary, Mobile 07775 603091. acl_50@ntlworld.com

East Midlands Regional Minutes 15

Peterborough & District Latest news. All the branch committee members were returned unopposed to their roles. We welcome a new member, Mark Wroe, who has taken on the job of LocAle Officer. Our Branch PotY 2017 is the Jolly Brewer, Stamford, Lincs. Licencees Dean and Jill have won this award before, in 2009, the first year they took on the pub. Our Cider PotY 2017 is once again the Letter B, Whittlesey, Cambs. Landlord Bruce always has a minimum of 8 real coders and perries available. Our LocAle PotY 2017 is the Heron, Stanground, Cambs Brewery news We were disappointed to find that Star Brewery, based in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, has had to close. Simon Raines, the brewer, was finding it difficult to carry on, having had his business partner leave the business over a year ago, with no replacement forthcoming, despite him trying. On a happier note, Angles Ales has been established in the Orton area of Peterborough and after a couple of hiccups, is producing ales that people are happy to try. Availability is limited at the moment. One more brewery, Rocket Ales has also been launched, as a cuckoo brewery at the moment, sharing facilities with King's Cliffe brewery. Beer Festival 2017 Plans are already developing for the 40

th Peterborough Beer Festival next

August. The committee have met twice already this year and hope to make this special anniversary event bigger and better than ever. This year, the logo has been designed by an Australian cartoonist. Membership and socials Our membership has dropped, with over 100 lapses since Christmas, to around 2,670. Stats show that it's an ever-aging group too. Thanks go again to Soc Sec John Hunt, for organising our regular social and campaigning trips, which still prove popular with a hard-core of about 30 members. The 'Mystery Tour' campaigning trip was an especially interesting tour of rarely seen village pubs in the Northamptonshire part of our branch. NBSS The inequities and inadequacies of relying on the NBSS system (for GBG and PotY guidance and consideration) as the only way to prove a pub's beer quality has thrown up the embarrassing fact that two recent PotYs rank 7th

and 8th on the top ten scores for our branch's pubs. Scorers often will submit marks for a good beer but fail to record average or poor beers, thereby skewing results. Pubs and ACVs. It was reported last time that the Fenman, Stanground and the Railway, Whittlesey had both re-opened. This unfortunately proved to be short-lived, as both are now closed again. On a brighter note, two more micro-pubs have opened in the city. Puzzles? (the question mark is part of the name) has opened in the city centre, presently selling three Brewster's beers on gravity. A long-awaited venture, the Frothblowers, has opened in Werrington, serving five hand-pumped beers and 5 ciders or perries. Both seem to have cornered a market that is unique to each pub. No new ACVs have been asked for or granted, although we have received an objection from the landlady of one of our ACV pubs, that would prefer to be taken off the register, as the pub is her own property and her home. Cheers, Dickie Bird, Secretary, info@peterboroughcamra.org.uk Rutland 1. News / Awards For the 2

nd consecutive year The Fox at North Luffenham has won our POTY.

We have also awarded a POTS to a club – The Empingham Cricket and Social Club. This has caused a certain backlash from one landlord – who is a lapsed CAMRA member – who said the club wasn’t a pub and it has restricted hours of opening. So does him. The matter was discussed at our last branch meeting and we are sticking by our guns. 2. Beer Festivals (CAMRA festivals or those that have CAMRA-involvement) Rutland invaded Derby, well there were 5 of us, for their excellent festival, what a great location, Delighted that an ex Rutland landlord won the POTY, we trained him well. We are looking forward to invading Leicester’s festival and will probably bring our Hon International member a certain Mr Ranieri for an emotional reunion.

I can’t recall if I have said that this year we will not be holding our (much loved) beer festival and ale trail this year as our venue has been converted to a temporary library. The venue has been booked for late June 2018 – more details to follow 3. Membership activation/Young members

East Midlands Regional Minutes 16

We have around the 185 mark and now have International representation with French, American, Irish, Scots and Welsh members. Even some folk have come over from Leicester and Peterborough. I hope that discussions with our neighbouring Peterborough branch will make it easier for those living in a certain Post code – PE9 - who are in Rutland will be offered the chance to consider joining us.

Sadly we don’t have very many young members. We tend to eat our young in Rutland. 4. What do you do to promote beer scoring?

David Laughton our Pubs Officer, we reserve the right to call our officers what we chose to, works very hard to promote scoring. He has shown less IT capable folk the way to do it and scores will increase. As the tourist season kicks in we tend to get quite a few scores for outside Rutland, which is nice 5. Pub preservation news (including ACVs)

We had our most recent meeting in a pub The Royal Oak in Queen Street Uppingham which had been closed for 18 months. The efforts of CAMRA members on pushing for an ACV resulted in at the last minute a deal being struck to keep the pub open. It has been refurbished and we wish it well. It’s on What Pub. 6. Hot Topics, Successes & Best Practice

Regional POTY, as a small branch we don’t have the human resource to visit all the pubs required, we understand larger branches also struggle. Can we investigate a way to make the travelling less onerous?

7. Anything else ?

An appeal has gone out by the Stoney Ford Micro Brewery in Rutland micro-brewery for any old Stamford Brewery beer bottles that people might have and feel they could loan to the brewery. They are hopeful that they might still contain some live yeast that may lurking and still live and useable and which they would like to use to replicate a new local brew. If you think you could help then please contact either Simon or Tim by telephone on 01780 753747 (please leave a message if they're busy brewing or delivering) or alternatively you can contact them by email to tim@stoneyfordbrewco.co.uk Thanks to our almost neighbours and great supports Hinckley for hosting us today. Jon Whowell, Chairman chair@rutlandcamra.org.uk

Scunthorpe & District Our winter POS was awarded to The Wheatsheaf in Barton-on-Humber in January. Members have enjoyed trips to beer festivals in Manchester and Derby. Our active membership continues to decline. Beer scoring is an agenda item for our meeting scheduled for 22nd February. The local press and a senior representative from Greene King have been invited. The latest pub to become an ACV was the Ironstone Wharf in Gunness. A number of 'unsung' pubs have been identified as suitable for the LoCale scheme with the latest award going to The George Hogg in Winterton which has Tom Woods beer on one of its 4 handpumps. Mike Sayers, Chairman mikes60@hotmail.co.uk Sheffield & District We continue our push to get members more interested in the "and District" (Derbyshire) part of our branch area, the majority of which is rural Peak District territory! Our Winter District Pub of the Season award was recently presented to the Packhorse at Little Longstone, we've run a few minibus trips to rural pubs and our RambAle programme of country walks with pubs resumes this month. Sheffield Beer Week takes place 11-19 March with a very busy programme of beery events across the City, this year the branch's participation will be presentations to brewers of our beer of the festival awards, a guided heritage pub walk and a launch of our first ale trail guide. More info on Beer Week at www.sheffieldbeerweek.co.uk.

Our 2017 Steel City Beer & Cider Festival planning is underway, subject to budget approval this will take place at Kelham Island Industrial Museum 18-21 October. Volunteer staff will be most welcome! As usual our newsletter editor and Dronfield branch's Chairman are organising the annual 3 Valleys Beer Festival in Dronfield, not a CAMRA festival but a great bit of pub & club campaigning - this will take place on 3rd June across 12 venues with free buses from Dronfield Station. Andrew Cullen, sheffieldalemaster@gmail.com

East Midlands Regional Minutes 17

Vale of Belvoir

We have had a busy start to 2017, with several pub protection matters. Unfortunately, since the last meeting, the Gas Gorilla in Barkestone and the Red Lion, Stathern, have both closed; elsewhere, the Red Lion, Bottesford, the Marquis of Granby, Granby and the Windmill, Redmile, are known to be up for sale but are still open. The branch has applied for Asset of Community Value status for the Red Lion (Bottesford) and has added support to a similar application for the other Red Lion by residents of Stathern. We have also offered support and advice to residents in Barkestone and Granby, and are monitoring the situation in Redmile. As with our previous endeavours, we have had a lot of assistance from Nick Molyneux from Nottingham branch.

In my last report I mentioned that the Chesterfield, Bingham was about to re-open. This did in fact re-open last November. Also in Bingham, Linear Brewing Company has begun production. Currently they are providing bottle-conditioned ales to a local deli and to the Horse & Plough, Bingham. However, one of our other local breweries, Pickled Pig, based in Staunton in the Vale, ceased trading in December 2016.

At our February branch meeting we finalised our nominations for the 2018 Good Beer Guide. Our March branch meeting is our AGM, and we will also be officially determining our branch Pub of the Year. Further ahead, plans have

just been finalised for our Mild in May events – 16 pubs are taking part, and we have several events laid on to ensure there is an official visit by the branch to all of them. The lineup features a good mix of Mild in May stalwarts and a couple of pubs participating for the first time in a while.

While supporting Stathern, members were asked to show their support in the form of a testimonial about the Red Lion. More than 10% of the branch’s membership replied to the request, so we are hoping this will be a stepping stone towards encouraging more members to become active in branch activities.

Members can stay informed on branch issues through the monthly newsletter, our page in the Nottingham Drinker, and our Facebook page. This has almost doubled its number of followers over the past year.

Ed Taylor, Membership Secretary kim.ed.taylor@hotmail.co.uk

Regional CBOB Co-ordinator’s Report As the judging year draws to the end the last couple of categories were judged at Chesterfield and Derby kicked off the 2017/18 judging year with the four winter styles. Lots of certificates to give out on Saturday as well - (from previous winners not the ones listed below - these will come to the next meeting!). I will be asking all branches to consider hosting a category early in March. Please do consider judging, I will help and support you as much as possible. Advance thanks to Lincoln who have already got their list for May! Thanks to Nick Boley (my Boss!) who for the support and guidance as the Director responsible for CBOB. Strong Bitter Judged at Chesterfield Gold Blue Monkey Ape Ale Silver Dancing Duck Abduction Bronze Castle Rock Screech Owl Speciality Judged at Chesterfield Gold Derventio Cleopatra Silver Grafton Apricot Jungle Bronze Leatherbritches Lemongrass and Ginger Barley Wine/Strong Old Ale Judged at Derby Gold Boot Beast of Bloodstock Silver Parish Baz's Bonce Blower Bronze Grainstore Nip Stout Judged at Derby Gold Thornbridge St Petersburg Imperial Russian Stout Silver Dancing Duck Dark Drake Bronze Belvoir Oatmeal Stout Porter Judged at Derby Gold Lincoln Green Tuck Silver Dancing Duck Indian Porter Bronze Batemans Salem Porter

East Midlands Regional Minutes 18

Old Ale/Strong Mild Gold Derby Brewing Quintessential Silver Potbelly Beijing Black Bronze Joint Brampton Mild Bronze Joint Falstaff Darkside Gillian Hough Mobile: 07847 504074 gillian.hough@yahoo.co.uk Regional Tasting Panel Co-ordinator’s Report WELL DONE LINCOLN - we now have a tasting panel and some people attended the recent course (some did not manage it but I can forgive that for the chance to see their team achieve FA cup glory) We held a training course at Derby Winter fest (thanks to the branch) and 20 people attended. Several have already opted for the advanced certificate as well. Attendees from Derby, Lincoln, Newark and Matlock – well done all. There is another course also being held at Burton, but places for this have already been taken but I do believe some East Mids people will also be taking the course Norman from Hinckley branch (stand up Norman and be recognised!!) is now a fully qualified trainer and is looking at potential venues, dates and COST!!! (Nothing is free (TANSTAAFL) – for those Larry Niven fans!!) Again keep up the reporting via the BIS and online tasting cards. I will try and get a full breakdown for the next Regional meeting. If anyone wants to contact me - terrya.lock@ntlworld.com