About Us

The North Herts Branch of CAMRA is made up of all the members who live in the branch area (follow this link to the Herts Real Ale Guide, then click on North Herts to see a map). We are a mixture of male and female, young and not-so-young, fat and (relatively) thin, with and without hair (facial and otherwise), but all sharing a love of good beer of the cask-conditioned variety.

There are about 600 of us at present, but unfortunately we rarely see more than a fairly small number of them.

We try to visit as many pubs in our area as we can during the course of the year - see the Branch Diary - and if we are visiting one near you please make an effort to come and meet us. You don't have to be a member, but we hope that if you like good beer you will decide to join. Husbands, wives or other partners and friends are also welcome, even if they insist on drinking something unmentionable. We are a friendly crew and you may afterwards decide that you could get more out of your CAMRA membership by joining in. We certainly hope so.

The Things We Do

Nationally CAMRA runs many campaigns on all manner of beer-related issues, as well as it's stated aims as the UK beer consumer's champion. Locally, our main task each year is producing our part of the Good Beer Guide. Surveying pubs for possible inclusion in the Good Beer Guide is a grim business - it tends to involve drinking rather a lot of beer. Hopefully most of it will be good, but there are always a few which don't make the grade. We try to spread the work among as many members as possible, but the only way to judge beer quality is to drink the stuff. Your help with this arduous work would be much appreciated. All you need to do is record what you drink where, and how good or bad it is on CAMRA's 0-5 rating scale. You can then send it to us on the back of fag packets, in emails, on spreadsheets, or interactively on this website. If your favourite pub never gets in the Guide, you need to tell us how great it is.

We present a small number of awards to the good pubs in our area; Pub-of-the-Year, Community Pub-of-the-Year and Most Improved Pub once a year. The recipients are decided by members at Branch Meetings and we try to get as many members as possible to the actual presentations. Click here for a list of previous winners.

Social activities

We meet frequently (see the Diary), sometimes to conduct a little branch business, but always to enjoy a few drinks in pleasant company.

We hold two Beer Festivals each year (Hitchin in March, and Letchworth in September) at which a team of hard-working members ensure that beer lovers can sample a wide range of beers not normally found in our area.

More help is always welcome at these events; just turn up and offer your services. You need to be a CAMRA member if you want to help, but if you are not already a member we can sign you up on the spot!

Groups of us also support the festivals held by other branches. For this purpose we usually meet on the train. Friends and relations are welcome, but no children, please, as they cannot be admitted to most festivals.

From time to time we visit breweries at which we see the brewing process at all stages and get to taste the final product. This is not just a fun activity - we also get to hear about the problems the brewers have to contend with, something which can affect our campaigning activities profoundly.

Contacts

Voted for at our Branch AGM in March, the North Herts. CAMRA Committee members for 2008-09 are:


North Herts. CAMRA has a branch contact point. Any enquiries about or comments on the branch's activities can be sent by clicking here.

Your e-mail will be forwarded to the appropriate committee member.