A trip to the CAMRA conference
In his weekly The Bar Man column, Jeff Hoyle discusses the CAMRA conference…
Some people mellow with age, but not Steve. Five years ago, when we went up to Dundee for the CAMRA members’ weekend, he asked us to boo loudly at the headquarters of DC Thompson, the publishers responsible for the Beano amongst other things. This time we were requested to burn the place down. I sensibly, I think, confined myself to booing once again. Why the requests? Steve was editor of a magazine called This England, which majors in nostalgia for an England long gone, or perhaps for one that never existed and was dispensed with when DC Thompson took over in circumstances that rankled a little.
Still, we did our duty and then made our way to the CAMRA conference. Filled with enthusiasm and vigour, the assembled masses endured the official business such as voting on the accounts and then a recess of almost an hour was declared so that the pent-up energy and interest could be dispersed around the various coffee shops of Dundee. We made it back in order to hear some pedestrian motions in the conference which kind of passed me by, before the guest speaker Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Green party, addressed the assembled multitude, or at least he did once it had been clarified that as of the preceding Wednesday, he was no longer a government minister, something that seemingly had failed to register with our chairman.
Still, he put up a sound performance and so it was in good heart that we caught the train just up the coast to Arbroath where we saw the Red Lichties walloped 5-0 by Queen’s Park. Already relegated, it seemed that Arbroath were mentally on the beach as well as almost literally. The waves wash against the side of the stadium on stormy days, Gayfield Park being closer to the ocean than any other stadium in Britain.
Yet another treat lay in store for us. Just down the road was the local CAMRA pub of the year, with 21 consecutive entries in the Good Beer Guide. A Wetherspoons. Absolutely packed, with tables overflowing with discarded glasses and plates. Good beer though. Next morning it was back to the conference, with pressing matters on the agenda such as a motion to disqualify pubs from being entered in the Good Beer Guide if they do not serve beer in line-marked oversized glasses.
Like most of the motions at the conference, this was proposed by a combative individual representing a branch in Kent. After it was suggested that the Beer Guide would in future be a very thin volume indeed, the motion was reinterpreted as being that at least one lined glass should be available on request. Well, imagine if some guy from Kent comes into a Norfolk pub and requests his beer from a lined glass because he is from CAMRA. What would be the reaction of some of our pricklier landlords?
Fortunately, the assembled masses saw sense and voted the motion down. Still, there is always next year and I have little doubt our friend will be back, perhaps demanding that there is less red tape and that branches are allowed to make their own decisions. So, an enjoyable weekend? Yes. Despite the motions not being very interesting and attendance being understandably well down on the event five years ago, we met up with some friends, were impressed with the staff, both paid and volunteers. The organisation was top class and the beer at the members’ festival was excellent. It also allowed us to head on further north and west…
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