Chelmsford and Mid-Essex

Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA - Notice of AGM

We are pleased to invite all Members to the Branch Annual General Meeting (AGM) at The Orange Tree, 6 Lower Anchor Street, Chelmsford, CM2 0AS on Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 8pm for 8.30pm.

Please bring your valid CAMRA membership card, as entry will not be permitted without this.

AGM Agenda

• Minutes of the previous meeting
• Auditor's Report
• Approval of Accounts
• Chair’s Report
• Membership Secretary's Report
• Social Secretary's Report
• Publicity Officer's Report
• NBSS Co-ordinator's Report
• Cider Representative's Report
• BFOs’ reports
• Election of officers
• Appointment of Auditors
• Special motions, previously notified to the Secretary

Nominations for branch officers’ posts

The current nominations for the officer’s posts, and vacancies, can be found here. If you wish to be nominated for any post then please contact the Secretary.

Note

• Nominations for officers are to be submitted at least 7 days prior to the meeting to the Secretary in writing (emails acceptable) with names and membership numbers of proposer and seconder.
• Nominee, proposer and seconder must be branch members.
• A printed list of vacant position(s) will be available at the AGM.
• Any member wishing to stand for a vacant position must advise the Secretary, at least 5 minutes before the commencement of the AGM, providing their name and membership number and names and membership numbers of proposer and seconder.It is not mandatory for those standing to be present at the meeting.
• Nominations will be posted on the branch website at least 5 days before the AGM.

Many Thanks,
Norman Robinson
Chair
Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA
ku.gro.armac.drofsmlehc@riahc

Chequers Roxwell Campaign reaches £275,000 Pledge Target

The campaign to save the historic Chequers Pub in Roxwell is celebrating successfully attaining the minimum pledge threshold of £275,000 which is needed to progress to the next funding stage.

Josie Nixon, Membership Secretary of the Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society, said: "We're immensely pleased and proud of our community. Hitting our minimum pledge target is not just a financial achievement, but a testament to the shared values and spirit of Roxwell's residents. With the whole community’s demonstrable support, we're excited to advance to the next phase, applying for government funding. The ultimate goal is to purchase the Chequers Pub as a community asset and swing open its doors to the people of Roxwell, Essex, and those from further afield, and the residents are unanimously working towards that."

With the backing of the community and the prospect of Government funding, the future for the Chequers Pub is looking brighter.

For those interested in contributing to the campaign, further details are available at https://savethechequersroxwell.co.uk/.

Click here for previous Chequers Roxwell announcements.

Flitch Line Ale Trail Competition

CME has collaborated with local rail groups to publish a new rail ale trail, the second in Essex. The Flitch Line Rail Ale Trail is based along the railway line between Braintree, Cressing, White Notley and Witham and covers nine pubs on the route. Described as “A Voyage of Real Ale Discovery”, a competition has been announced to promote this new rail ale trail with a copy of GBG 2024 as prize. Click the header link for further details.

Woolpack 20p CAMRA Reduction

The Woolpack are offering 20p off their cask ales range, to CAMRA members presenting a valid membership card.

Endeavour judged Overall East Anglia CAMRA Pub of the Year 2023

Following on from the success of The Endeavour in being awarded Chelmsford & Mid Essex Pub of the Year (PotY) and then Essex PotY, it has now been awarded the East Anglian Pub of the Year, see our regional Press Release here.

Considering that this award covers all of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, this is a landmark accomplishment for Naomi, her team and all the Endeavour's regulars. Our hearty congratulations to them!

In July, Graham Darby the CAMRA Essex Area Organiser, and Chair of Chelmsford & Mid Essex Branch, Norman Robinson (below right) made a special Essex PotY presentation to Naomi, only a couple of weeks before the East Anglia PotY judging.

The East Anglian Regional Director of CAMRA will award East Anglian Pub of the Year 2023 to the Endeavour on Sunday 1st October 2023 at 2pm. Please come along and support this magnificent win by Naomi and her team, it is a huge achievement for her to be voted best pub in East Anglia and only the third time that a CME pub has won.

The Endeavour is automatically entered in the next Super Regional round of judging with only 16 pubs remaining in the national competition. The results are expected in a few weeks, in the meantime, pop into the pub and offer the team your congratulations for their achievement in putting Chelmsford on the national map!

Thanks for your Generosity toward our Charity Partner - Sanctus

Your generous donations of remaining beer cards, glasses and cash have raised over £5700 to support vulnerable and homeless people in and around the city – Thank you! Look out for details on a Winter Beer Festival in early 2024...

Kevin Sutterby
Beer Festival Organiser

Fleur de Lys, Widdington, is Essex Cider Pub of the Year 2023

Liz Gurr, Northwest Essex Cider Representative, and Claire Irons, Essex Cider Representative (second from right and right) jointly present the Essex Branches Cider Pub of the Year 2023 Award to Chris and Ellie Rosetto of the Fleur de Lys, Widdington, near Saffron Walden.

Compasses, Littley Green is Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year 2023

Congratulations to the redoubtable Compasses, Littley Green for being awarded CME's Cider Pub of the Year 2023. Joss and the team have done a magnificent job again.

"I'm super chuffed that the Compasses is Chelmsford and Mid-Essex CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year for the second year running", said Joss on being presented with the certificate by Claire Irons. He added his thanks to all his staff for making the Compasses such a great place to drink, especially for cider drinkers.

The Endeavour, Springfield Road was an honourable second place, to go on the wall with its overall PotY 2023 win. On being presented with the award, Naomi commented that she, dad Guy and boyfriend Ben were very proud to have been awarded 2023 Cider PotY Runner-up.

Wassail!

If you are a CAMRA member, we want you to tell us about the quality of beer in the pubs you visit.

The National Beer Scoring System (NBSS) is a 0-5 point scale for judging beer quality in pubs. It is an easy to use system that has been designed to assist CAMRA branches in selecting pubs for the Good Beer Guide and also monitor beer quality by encouraging CAMRA members from any part of the world to report beer quality on any pub in the UK.

You can now score your beers using the Good Beer Guide App making it easier than ever to help promote pubs serving great beer.

Endeavour, Springfield Road is Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA Pub of the Year 2023

Our branch member votes have been counted and The Endeavour, Springfield Road was voted Pub of the Year 2023

Congratulations to Naomi Hammett and her team, to whom CME branch chair Norman Robinson presented the PotY 2023 certificate on Monday 13th February.

Also well done to The Compasses, Littley Green
where Norman presented a Joint Runner-up Certificate to Joss Ridley and his team on Wednesday 22nd February, and the Hop Beer Shop

where John and Phil received their Joint Runner-up Certificate from Norman the following day, Thursday 23rd February.

Hello all,

we have a couple of vacancies on the Branch Committee.

The role descriptions for these are in the Members Area of CAMRA’s website (login required) and if you want to discuss anything about them please contact me.
The vacancies are:

• Membership Secretary
• Young Members Contact

Thank you

Norman Robinson
Chair, Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA
ku.gro.armac.drofsmlehc@riahc
07508 428798

A question for our members -
Do you belong to or frequent a club?

Apart from pubs, CAMRA is keen to include clubs when it comes to places which serve real ales and cider/perry.

CAMRA campaigns to protect and promote clubs which are important community assets that actively promote the social well being of their local area. So, they are encouraging branches to choose a Club of the Year that show the greatest commitment to quality real ale and cider/perry.

The clubs do not need a wealth of hand pulls to be entered into the Club of the Year competition; the emphasis should always be on the quality of the cask ale rather than the quantity. We know that there are clubs in our branch area that might be considered for this accolade. But we really need your help to identify these.

So, if your club serves real ale and cider/perry we would really like to know about it, especially if you think it deserves recognition.

Information on clubs can be found on the CAMRA website; their definition is:

1. Clubs are private members clubs
2. Clubs are operated and governed for the benefit of the membership
3. Any surpluses are reinvested for the benefit of the membership

There are eight categories to take into account when nominating a Club of the Year

1. Quality and condition of real ale (cider and perry where applicable)
2. Promotion and knowledge of real ale
3. Cleanliness and hygiene
4. Community focus and atmosphere
5. Service, welcome and offering
6. Style, décor and furnishing
7. Sympathy to CAMRA’s aims
8. Overall impression and value.

Please send details of the club you wish to be considered by sending:

• Name and address of the club
• Club contact person and email and/or telephone number
• Details of real ales, ciders and perrys sold
• Any other information you think useful
• Your name and contact details

Send to the CME Vice-Chair by 12th March

Thank you
Norman Robinson
Chair, Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA
ku.gro.armac.drofsmlehc@riahc

Woolpack is Timothy Taylor Champion!

Congratulations to the Woolpack, Chelmsford on their recent status upgrade to Timothy Taylor's "Champion Club". For a full list of privileges and perks that this accolade brings, see further down this page for the similar award at the Walnut Tree, Broads Green.

Updated: Urgent Appeal from Kevin Sutterby
Chelmsford Summer Beer & Cider Festival 2023

Dear Chelmsford & Mid Essex CAMRA Member,

As you may know, after four years we are beginning to plan for a Summer Beer Festival in 2023; this is provisionally arranged for 11th to 15th July, obviously with setup in the week before and takedown in the few days after the 15th.

The Festival will only be about half the size it has grown to in recent years due to the current economic climate, and as of mid-December 2022 is subject to confirmation with Chelmsford City Council and to sufficient volunteers coming forward.

We are at the stage of obtaining approval from CAMRA HQ for a Business Case to allow us to proceed but so far this case is weakened by lack of commitment from the membership to make it happen.

The Festival cannot run without its volunteers so we thought we should reach out to you and ask for your commitment to support and help us ensure that the festival can go ahead. If only half of our 1350 members gave up as little as four hours over the festival week, then we could go ahead.

It is not essential to be a CAMRA member to volunteer, so if someone you know can help, please suggest that they contact us at the details below. We need to fill specific roles such as Health and Safety Manager and Entrance Manager, in addition to bar staff and general duties. If you fancy trying one of these, let us know.

Volunteering is a great opportunity to make new friends and give something back. Many people say that, although they work hard at the Festival, they also have a lot of fun and laughs and make great memories. Volunteering can be a good way of building skills so, whether you are at the start of your career and want to build some experience in an area you would like to work in or you are nearing the end of your working life and have always wanted to give something a go, this could be your chance!

We are happy to mentor people and shall do whatever we can to support you and help you gain some skills. You can work as often or as little as you feel able and we shall try to find work in an area that you prefer. That said, there are times when we must all pitch in and if you can, a bit of flexibility is appreciated.

To be very clear to you all, this announcement is asking for your help, if we cannot encourage enough of you to step forward, the festival will not go ahead.

Please commit to helping us restart this great campaigning event by putting your name forward to Frankie Hayden, CBCF Volunteer Manager.

Kevin Sutterby, Organiser
Summer Beer and Cider Festival 2023
Email: ku.gro.armac.fcbc@ofbs

Special Award for Licensees at Horse & Groom, Galleywood

On the first stop of a recent CME Rural Pubs Runaround, Martin Joy presented a CAMRA Special Award to Dave & Lyn Lovejoy of the Horse & Groom, Galleywood to commemorate their 30 years as licensees.

Return of The Viper, Mill Green

The Viper, Mill Green re-opened last weekend after extensive refurbishment. CME members are encouraged to support the pub, please see their Facebook page or website (under development) for more details about opening times, etc.

CME Rural Pub Treasure Trail 2022

A chance to explore some of our great rural pubs, find the clues, score the beers and ciders and enjoy yourselves. Click the image above to download a printable PDF, or click here for the answers (spoiler alert).

Future Beer and Cider Festivals

The Compasses, Littley Green, was recently awarded Essex Cider PotY 2022. CME Cider Representative Claire Irons presented Joss and the team with their award.

Congratulations to Max and Jess at The Queen's Head, Boreham

CME CAMRA Pub of the Year 2022.

Runner up was the Orange Tree.

Joint bronze went to the Compasses Littley Green and the Hop Beer Shop.

Congratulations also to Joss, Steve and all the team at the Compasses, Littley Green, who are CME's 2022 Cider Pub of the Year

and John and team at the Hop Beer Shop for being awarded 2022 Runner-up

The Three Compasses, West Hanningfield on the Radio

Chelmsford & Mid-Essex CAMRA were back on Chelmsford Community Radio 104.4 FM on Saturday 29th January. To mark CME's Special Presentation for over 50 years at the pub, Ollie Rogers of Chelmsford Community Radio 104.4 FM interviewed Rosemary Cotton of the Three Compasses, West Hanningfield.

Click the play button below:
The interview starts around 1:34:45.

Crouch Vale 40th Anniversary

Rob Walster, landlord of the Prince of Wales at Stow Maries, presented this certificate from Maldon and Dengie CAMRA to Colin Bocking celebrating 40 years of Crouch Vale Brewery.

Rob and Colin started the brewery together 40 years ago.

City Of Ales Trails

Grab your COAT and explore! Chelmsford & Mid-Essex CAMRA celebrate our sensational pub scene with our Chelmsford City of Ales Trails - or COAT for short.

Six trails with 5/7 Real Ale serving pubs in and around Chelmsford using footpaths and bus routes.

Click here for all the information on the trails of ales.

CME CAMRA back on the Radio

Chelmsford & Mid-Essex CAMRA were back on Chelmsford Community Radio on Saturday 29th May. To hear what we had to say about #PubsMatter and getting people back into the pub, click the play button below:

The interview starts around 1:07:25.

Cask is Back

A new campaign is calling on beer drinkers to back British brewing and pubs, and opt for a pint of fresh cask beer from a local independent brewery when they return to pubs! #CaskIsBack
During lockdown, some 5 MILLION pints of cask beer from small independent breweries had to be poured away, with the brewers who made it left to foot the bill. Cask is BACK - so back CASK!

Happy 50th!

March 16th is CAMRA's 50th birthday. The CAMRA website has a section to mark this event including:

• 50th book
• Golden Awards
• Photo Gallery

This guide highlights fantastic pubs in our branch area which have been selected for the quality of their real ale, features and attractiveness.

All are surveyed and updated by local CAMRA members on whatpub.com throughout the year.

Rural Pub Trail

Originally planned to finish at the 2020 Summer beer and Cider Festival, this has now been extended so the free tokens can be used the next time we have a festival.

Collect a special mark or stamp from each pub when you visit and order a half or pint of real Ale or Cider.

Click here to download the trail guide.

...or click here if you just want a list of the pubs.