The Clickem Inn were presented with a double award today, firstly as 20 consecutive years in the Good Beer Guide [a remarkable achievement seeing that our Branch allocation is only 4 Country pubs]

Secondly, the pub has been voted as our Branch Pub of the year for 2024, considering there are over 120 pubs in our branch area with some stiff competition, our congratulations go to Terry and his team.

Photo below shows Our Chair with the Owner Terry

Photo below shows our CAMRA presentation party, left to write Geoff, Kevin, Terry, [and] Dave, Martin and Katie.

During our Branch meeting this evening our Chair presented the outgoing Manageress Dani with a certificate for finishing 2nd in our Pub of the year for 2024. A remarkable achievement considering they were also last year's Winners and seldom pubs do this well in consecutive years so it's a big endorsement for Dani, Michael and the Team, amidst some strong competition in the area.

Our Chair also thanked Dani for the tremendous support she has given our Branch in terms of meetings, promotions, beer festivals, sponsorship and providing free food on several occasions.

Photos below show our Chair between Dani [Left] and Alisha [Right] from the Yarborough, followed by our Vice chair Brian with both as some of our members look on.

We are delighted to announce that we have now completed the purchase of CAMRA’s new premises in Luton. This is by far the largest acquisition CAMRA has ever made and we are extremely pleased to be able to bring the office and the warehouse together under one roof, based at Unit 9, Finway, Dallow Road, Luton, LU1 1TR .

The Campaign will no longer have to lease warehouse space, making it more economically viable for us in the long-term.

We now have access to the warehouse and the Property Implementation Group is now working towards the fit out of the new premises to ensure a smooth transition from our current properties.

The team is focusing on the warehouse as we intend to leave our current site by the end of July. This is to ensure the move is as seamless as possible, providing the best possible experience for our volunteers and the services we offer to CAMRA branches and festivals. The bigger and improved warehouse space will make it easier for volunteers to order kit and equipment, giving CAMRA a larger space and ensuring a better experience to organise and ship merchandise from our shop. The warehouse space will make equipment more accessible, allow us to store more equipment and it will have a dedicated repair station.

A number of members of staff are now working at the warehouse to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible as we make the transition. Once work on the warehouse is complete, we will turn out attention to the new office space, which is likely to begin late summer. Hatfield Road will be put up for sale shortly and any further updates will be given over the coming months.

Anita Newland-Smith, Chief Support Officer & Company Secretary 8 April

We have arranged a meet the Brewer night with 8 Sail brewery on MONDAY 15TH APRIL FROM 7PM AT THE RUTLAND ARMS.

Sam doesnt usually open on a Monday but is opening especially for this event, so it would be good if we can get some idea of the numbers coming please, we hope our members will support this event.

A selection of 8 Sail's core beers:

Details of our new X (twitter) account:

@GrimsbyNELCAMRA

I Write this short speech [Do not worry] in the hope that the motion was carried, and that the future of our branch is looking much rosier.

I would like to thank Katie, and in particular Brian for their/his hard work in producing a plan which in effect could be called a rescue plan.

I would also like to send a special thank you to Anna, Brian, David, Graham, Katie & Matt for volunteering and accepting the responsibilities, I for one am very appreciative of this.

You’ll have noticed during my considerable talks tonight that I didn’t actually use the phrase , sometimes this is a thankless task and you don’t feel appreciated, several people have thanked me in the last couple of months and I also received a nice letter a lovely book and a couple of bottles of nice beer from one of the members, it is moments like that, that you do think people appreciate you.

So onwards to a new era in our branch, we have lots to do,

an updated Constitution, a new accounts system online with CAMRA, [COBAS] to sort out online banking for branches and to change bank accounts so payments can be made directly into our account.

Meet the Brewer nights.

A drive to promote the Branch membership, with a roller banner at events, an upcoming rebranding of the CAMRA logo I believe,

POTY presentations, Barrowhill coach and to ensure handovers to the new positions are as thorough as they should be, Oh and who knows with the right support maybe a Beer festival to look forward to in 2025.

Many thanks Kevin

Our AGM charity namecard was won by Roy Mortlock [name on the card was Nancy], the funds raised on the night will be given to the Ancient Mariners.

Photo below shows Roy [Left] and Graham Larn [right] Who kindly organised this for the Branch.

The motion regarding a new Committee was voted for and passed with the voting being:

For 22, Against 0, Abstained 1 = 23 votes.

The Committee positions along with the proposers and seconders are as under

.

The Contact page has been updated here: https://grimsby.camra.org.uk/contacts

SOCIAL REPORT FOR AGM 2024

In view of the possibilities of this being under another member’s umbrella after the motion voting, we will keep this short,

The website [now 26 months old] continues to provide our members with up-to-date information and sends a link to the business WhatsApp page so you do not have to go online in hope, it is there for you! If you are not in this group, and / or Random chats or days out , then let me know at the end of this meeting and I will add you accordingly.

Brian updates FB, not only following our web posts but also with useful information from our pubs, and from CAMRA and CAMRA Branches too. Stan also updates important news on our twitter page, and I instigated a Linked-In page namely to promote our beer festival.

Many thanks , Kevin

Sender- Kevin Donovan [Chair] CAMRA Grimsby NEL Branch

Subject : Branch Pub of the year 2024

We are delighted to announce that the Clickem Inn [Swinhope] has been voted by our members as our overall Branch Pub of the year for 2024. A hearty congratulations to Terry and his team.

In 2nd place is last year's Winners the Yarborough Hotel [JD Wetherspoon, Grimsby] congratulations to Dani, Michael and the team.

In 3rd place is the Nottingham House [Cleethorpes], being the Manager for less than 8 months, Nikki has turned the pub around back to its former reputation of a gem of a real ale pub.

There are so many quality establishments in our area [well over a 100] and the competition is very tough, thus the owners of the above pubs have just reason to feel very proud.

We are allocated just 12 pubs in our branch area in the annual CAMRA Good Beer guide [judged on real ale scores] and each year it's a very close call.

Do you want to join CAMRA? there are many benefits, to find out email, gro.armac.ybsmirg@riahc. uk

Kevin Donovan

end.

FYI: The following is the full list:

4th Place: Number 1, 5th Place: Rutland Arms and 6th place: No.2

March is a busy month if you are a CAMRA member, please find details below:

Sunday 3rd

Deadline date for Motions to be sent to be voted on at the AGM

Deadline day for POTY Voting forms

Deadline day for GBG2025 Survey forms

Monday 4th

We will forward any motion[s] received to all members on email

Wednesday 6th

WETHERSPOON FESTIVAL INVITE

Back room of the Yarborough reserved for CAMRA members and their guests from 6pm onwards, taste the festival ales and food will also be laid on by the Yarborough Management

Monday 11th

AGM - Spiders Web, Grimsby 8pm start - Members only

Wednesday 13th

MEET THE BREWER - BATEMAN'S - NR 1 Public House, Cleethorpes from 6pm

Our meeting in February will be held at our POTY The Yarborough Hotel [JD Wetherspoon] on Monday 19th February.

Details of the agenda is as below:

1900-2000 Meet the Brewer, GORILLA Brewery of Mexborough

2000 onwards, normal Branch meeting

On Monday our Vice chair was 60 years old and to celebrate this momentous occasion we held a surprise party in the Farmhouse, New Waltham.

It's amazing having set up a whattsapp group that despite some of using the wrong chat groups, Mark was none the wiser.

What was a great night was made even better by the pub having a meet the Brewer night, for the 2nd time in a few weeks we were royally looked after by the Timothy Taylor reps. A big thank you to them and the Farmhouse for being great hosts.

Photos from the night as below:

Who could possibly disagree?

Do you have what it takes to help run our Branch, with over 400 members it's a rewarding job, our AGM is in March and we will have the following vacancies available on the night, as our Chair [Kevin Donovan] steps down from his Committee roles.

Chair

Branch Secretary [And minutes Secretary]

Membership Secretary

Web master

You can also apply for other positions on the night [Vice-chair, Social Secretary, Treasurer etc.]

if you require any Role descriptions, then kindly email our chair ku.gro.armac.ybsmirg@riahc

Our branch aim to have as many meet the Brewer nights as we can during 2024, please find details as below.

TIMOTHY TAYLOR - January 16th - Nottingham House, Cleethorpes

GORILLA - February 19th - Yarborough Hotel [JD Wetherspoon] - Branch meeting follows

BATEMAN'S - 13th March, Number 1 Pub, 150 year Celebration.

8SAIL - Details tbc, April

We are delighted to announce that our Winter Pub of the season had been chosen by our members, and the winner is NOTTINGHAM HOUSE

The pub were comfortable winners in the voting process.

Our chair Commented that this was a just reward for all the hard work put in by the new landlady Nikki in the last 5 months, and the improvement in both the choice and quality of real ales.

He also said that he'd received numerous commments, from members that the pub was back to it's best!

So congratulations to Nikki and the Team at the Notts.

Campaign for Real Ale

Dear Members and guests

Best wishes and a hearty new year to you all, please see below our Bumper update for you all

SOCIAL DIARY

JANUARY

Monday 8th - Branch meeting at Colesium Picture House in Cleethorpes [a new venue for us, they will lay on some small plate items from their menu]. Our meeting will also conclude the Winter POTS Vote

Tuesday 16th - Meet the Brewer TIMOTHY TAYLOR at the Notts in Cleethorpes, further details tbc but should be a great night with free samples and give-a-ways [Thank you to Nikki the Landlady]

Saturday 20th - Number 8 bus Pub crawl, members and their guests invited, meeting at the Yarborough Hotel, further details tbc.

FEBRUARY

Our branch meeting will be held at the Yarborough Hotel and hopefully we will combine this with a meet the brewer night GORILLA BREWERY - further details are to be confirmed

MARCH

Monday 4th @ 8pm - Our AGM will be held at the Spiders Web, we will advise further details in due course.

Please do not forget that there will be a few vacancies on the Committee, If you require any further information on these, positions and roles etc, please email : ku.gro.armac.ybsmirg@riahc

GBG 2025

A little reminder for you all, to please remember to add your beer scores to Whatpub/GBG app by January 7th. Those added after this time may not be counted. A report will be ran before the meeting, and from the 22 pubs on our original list, 12 pubs plus 1 reserve will make up our allocation list. These 13 pubs will then need to be surveyed. Volunteers will be requested at the meeting, let us know which pub(s) you wish to survey. [Courtesy of Brian & Katie]

POTY 2024

Thank you to everyone who took their time to vote. We had lots of pubs nominated, which was great to see. The highest scoring pubs have made the short list. These pubs will need to be judged, against the criteria supplied by Camra. If you would like to be a judge, you will need to score all pubs on the list, car shares can be arranged for any deemed difficult to get to. Only judges will receive the list of contenders. Full list will be made available at the AGM, when the winner for our region will also be announced. [Courtesy of Brian & Katie]

DECEMBER Branch meeting Minutes:

https://comms-tool-media.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lne/files/Minutes%20December%2023.docx

Thanks

Branch: Grimsby & North East Lincs

On Friday night, our Branch held it's annual Christmas party.

40 plus members, got together for a night of fun, quizzes and drinking at our Pub of the year, The Yarborough Hotel. A big thank you to Dani and her team that were fantastic hosts and the arrival of £400 worth of food from the small plate menu was a sight to behold! [Hope they've got a big dishwasher]

A fantastic £128 was raised at the raffle, with all the proceeds going to the Mariners Trust, our Chair has kindly made this figure up to £150 which will go towards, Clothes, food & Toys for the needy at Christmas.

Congratulations to our quiz team winners

1] General Christmas knowledge - Bar Humbug

2] Camra/Real ale quiz - Know it Ales

Also to the best team name - Real Ale Farts

You can see photos of what was a fantastic evening below:

PRESS RELEASE

11/12/2023

CAMRA flagship festival postponed

The Campaign for Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival is taking a year off in 2024 but will return in 2025 with a bang! Work is now underway by organisers and volunteers to explore a variety of options for the future – and the festival will return better than ever before.

CAMRA’s Events Director Catherine Tonry commented: “While we are understandably extremely disappointed CAMRA’s flagship event will not take place next year, we are now looking at a range of options for its triumphant return in 2025.

“It has been a difficult decision to make as it is the highlight of our calendar. Unfortunately, our current venue could not offer us the dates we needed. It is essential the Great British Beer Festival is the absolute best it can be for our valued volunteers, wider membership and customers.”

Ongoing building works could also affect CAMRA being able to host its flagship festival to the high standards customers and members have come to expect.

Catherine added: “While other venues have been explored, due to timescales, costs and our requirements we have not being able to secure a suitable venue. While this was not a decision taken lightly, we will now look forward to the future and continue with plans for 2025, looking at a variety of options and venues.”

Work is also underway to look at plans for next year’s Champion Beer of Britain competition, which usually culminates at the national festival. This illustrious competition runs over a two-year period, thanks to the dedication of thousands of CAMRA members who vote across 12 beer styles each autumn.

Catherine also thanked everyone who attend or volunteers at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival and looks forward to seeing everyone in 2025.

CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival Winter takes place next February and tickets are now on sale. This year’s festival will also be home to the prestigious Champion Winter Beer of Britain award, with the winners announced during the trade and press session. This annual festival taking place between 14-17 February 2024, brings together hundreds of UK beers, international beers and real ciders and perries.

Ends

The GBBF is held at the Olympia in London.

The latest edition of our In the Drink Magazine, can be found here:

https://grimsby.camra.org.uk/magazine

Cover sheet as below:

Comm's msg to all our e-mail Subscribers.

NOVEMBER MINUTES

Minutes of our November meeting can be found here:

https://comms-tool-media.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lne/files/Minutes%20November%2023.docx

DECEMBER AGENDA

Meeting tomorrow night Monday 4th at the Spiders Web

https://comms-tool-media.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lne/files/Agnda%20December%2023.docx

CHRISTMAS FUNCTION

Spaces are now limited for our Function at the Yarborough Hotel on Friday 15th December at 7pm. 43 members are already on the list, we will have to close off at 50!, don't delay contact our Chair if you wish to go.

IN THE DRINK

Our latest Magazine is being released tomorrow, copies will be given to attendees at our Monthly Branch meeting.

Thanks & Compliments of the Season to you all, Kevin

Branch: Grimsby & North East Lincs

Our Branch ran a 22 seater minibus to the CAMRA Beer Festival at Gainsborough last Friday, below you can find lots of photos from the day!

[2nd pick up outside the Yarborough]

Our Chair leading the way to join the queue]

[Queueing to get in the festival]

[Next up : A competition of who looks the most regal]

[Elm Cottage in the GBG]

[Our last stop in Gainsborough was the Eight Jolly Brewers]

[Alas our minibus awaits]

[One for the road in our Pub of the year, The Yarborough hotel,actually became four]!