CAMRA Revitalisation project

A survey of the membership nationally has been launched to find out what members think the campaign’s future direction should be. Some argue that the Campaign for Real Ale has been won – there is plenty of choice of beer out there now and an ever growing number of breweries producing it. Some also argue that CAMRA should be embracing all good beer not just real ale – the ‘craft keg’ wasn’t about in the 1970s when CAMRA began – back then keg was all about cutting back quality in favour of profit and efficiency and the tradition of quality, fresh, cask conditioned beer was in danger of being lost. If the campaign is won then the question is what do we focus on – at the moment the big issues are pub closures, the way some pub owning companies operate and taxation on beer and cider – should CAMRA change it’s name to reflect the new issues and focus? On the other hand should CAMRA simply be happy to be a successful consumer campaign with a record membership taking on whatever issues happen to be relevant? The survey, which closed at the end of April is simply the beginning of the revitalisation project which is designed to reinvigorate the organisation and re-enthuse the membership to get involved volunteering, the project is a three year one with the first report following the survey to be at next years national AGM & Members Weekend in Bournemouth.