Macclesfield & East Cheshire CAMRA
CAMRA
www.eastcheshirecamra.org.uk
Welcome to the festival
The Campaign for Real Ale is pleased to be working with Macclesfield Round Table again this year for an extravaganza of real ale, cider & perry in a most convivial setting, raising lots of money for the nominated charities.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the most successful consumer group in Europe with over 120,000 members. Without the efforts of CAMRA and real ale breweries over the past 40 years, it is unlikely that this wonderful event would even exist. If you were around in the 1970s, you will remember a time of the increasing dominance of a few very large breweries pushing tasteless keg beer. The success of the campaign can be measured by the simple statistic that there are now over 770 real ale breweries (more than four times the number in 1971) producing a mind boggling 3,000 different beers.
Trevor Gammage, a long standing CAMRA member, is in charge of the beer. As always, he will have chosen a wonderful selection of over 120 well-kept real ales and over 30 ciders & perries. Whilst the program will give you a great introduction to the wide choice of real ales, please don’t hesitate to ask about the different styles. Can I also encourage you to take this opportunity to experiment? If you usually shy away from dark beers, this might be the chance to try a wonderful stout, porter or mild.
Saturday lunchtime
The Saturday lunchtime session is a quieter more family friendly session with the key advantage that entry is free. If we’re lucky and the weather is favourable, it’s an ideal opportunity to sit on the grass and enjoy a pint or two. CAMRA is organising the following activities:
1. Beer tasting session
2. Tombola
3. Skittles
4. Morris dancers
5. Music by a local band
CAMRA aims
Whilst the early days were all about saving the tradition of real ale brewing in the UK, CAMRA’s scope of interest is now wider and here are our aims:
- Protect and improve consumer rights
- Promote quality, choice and value for money
- Support the public house as a focus of community life
- Campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of our national heritage and culture
- Seek improvements in all licensed premises and throughout the brewing industry
Few people can have failed to notice that pubs are closing at a worrying rate in Macclesfield and the surrounding area– a staggering 39 a week nationally. CAMRA believes that, apart from this festival of course, the best place to enjoy a fine pint of well-kept real ale is the pub. There are multiple reasons for these closures but the single best way we can all help sustain them is by visiting them.
CAMRA membership
Our new membership slogan is “A Campaign Of Two Halves” which recognises that whilst we’re very much about those aims above, we are also very much about enjoying real ale and pubs. Your local CAMRA branch has a full social calendar throughout the year including brewery trips, visiting beer festivals, local pub crawls and visits further afield.
Please visit the CAMRA membership stand where you will find a collection of interesting pub & beer related merchandise as well as CAMRA members ready to chat about anything beer related.
If the above aims strike a chord maybe you should consider joining CAMRA. Membership rates are reasonable and you get £20 of vouchers to use at JD Wetherspoons, plus other benefits. Please ask at the membership stand or see the branch website for more details.
So there is nothing more for me to say other than “enjoy the festival” and “Cheers!”
Rob Nicholson
Macclesfield & East Cheshire CAMRA chairman
www.eastcheshirecamra.org.uk
