Andy has been actively involved in CAMRA since the early 2000s after being recruited to sit on a National Younger Members Task Group.
Since then he has held roles on the branch committee including Secretary, Membership Secretary, Magazine Editor, Chair and now Social Secretary.
Andy has also been involved with the Steel City Beer & Cider Festival almost every year since becoming active in the branch.
The Manor House Hotel have announced their plans for Three Valleys Festival on Saturday 6th June. There will be a dedicated and themed beer tent featuring 6 beers from Abbeydale Brewery, Music in the afternoon (3.30 ish start) on the outside patio from Sam Wain, a jazz/blues/boogie-woogie pianist & singer; Quality food provided by ‘I ♥ Ostrich’ with their range of superb burgers, fries & other ‘street’ food and Hotel rooms available for weary and tired drinkers with special festival rates available ! As part of the festival a free bus service will run from Dronfield Station to the hotel every half hour.
By the time you are reading this our new management team at The Rising Sun should be nicely settled in, and we are delighted to have Ryan and Nicole on board, and we look forward to a long and successful future together. You may well be familiar with them from their previous roles at the Robin Hood and the Hammer and Pincers respectively. Building work is also well underway, and we again apologise for any inconvenience caused during the expansion and appreciate your continued support.
As mentioned in last months edition, the SunFest dates are 9th-12th July and will be going ahead regardless of the building works!
We hope to see as many of you as possible there and if you can’t quite wait that long for a beer festival, we would be delighted to see you at the Sheffield Breweries Co-Operative tent at Sheffield Food Festival. Please see the entry regarding that elsewhere in this issue.
Robin Baker, Abbeydale Brewery
Firstly, if you cannot wait for our Sunfest at the Rising Sun (9-12 July) we would be delighted to see you at the Sheffield Breweries Co-Operative tent at Sheffield Food Festival. Please see the entry regarding that elsewhere in this issue.
We were honoured to have the opportunity to host the legendary Mr Dan Rodgers of Griffin Claw Brewing Company, Michigan, at the end of March, and the beer we came up with together should be on the bars around Sheffield as we speak! It’s a beast of a beer, an English and American hybrid that really packs a punch, coming in at 6.7%, GriffindAleis to be respected!
You may or may not be aware there is some sort of election going on, so in true Abbeydale style we will make light of the situation and we are releasing two beers this month that poke fun at those in or wanting to be in Westminster! First up is Dr Morton’s Eurocrat, a 4.1% pale beer made with Low Colour Maris Otter malt. Crisp hop aromas and flavours with citrus and grapefruit predominating from the New Zealand and American hops. A lasting bitter finish to this very refreshing beer.
Secondly we have the return of Corruption, a 4.7% deep golden ale with a malty biscuity aroma. Pleasant hoppy undertones from the late addition of Chinook and Summit hops to give a well rounded bitterness and a delicate citrus flavour. You will find this beer on at the Food Festival!
Towards the end of the month should see the release of one of our new ‘Signature’ range of beers, and before you know it, we will be heading into the summer months!
At the branch AGM we elected a new Chairman and appointed the committee members for the year ahead.
The new Chairman is Andrew Cullen, editor of Beer Matters, and we also welcome some new committee members in the shape of Branch Secretary Sadie Skipworth who has recently moved to Sheffield from Norwich, Beer Festival Organiser Louise Singleton and Pubs Officer Mark Boardley.
Some old faces remaining on the committee, other than Andrew, are Mike Humphrey, Dave Pickersgill and Alan Gibbons. Their roles will be confirmed at the committee meeting taking place on the day this magazine arrives from the printers. There are still some vacancies on the committee so volunteers are still welcome!
Commenting on the changes and the plans for the years ahead, new branch Chairman Andrew Cullen said “Thanks to those who supported me returning to this role after 2 years doing other things in the branch, I’ve been talking to various people recently including a variety of CAMRA members, brewers and publicans and I feel we need to breathe some fresh air into the branch. There are some things we are already doing well: Beer Matters and the website are both looking good and our beer and cider festival proved an incredible success at Kelham Island Industrial Museum last year. We now need to make our programme of socials good again, make the branch meetings a bit more enjoyable and purposeful, and raise our profile around the pubs of Sheffield & District.”
He also commented on his wider campaigning views “I think we should also be communicating CAMRA’s national campaigning priorities louder locally. Although we are called the Campaign for Real Ale and our heritage is all about ensuring drinkers have the choice of quality real ale on the bar that really isn’t a concern right now. There is plenty of real ale coming out of an ever growing number of breweries and the wider beer scene beyond real ale is starting to embrace quality and craft. Any arguments about changing CAMRA’s policy and definitions of beer is somewhat time-wasting, I feel. Where our efforts are needed, are saving pubs. We have seen threats from the way some pub companies do business, from property developers, from convenience store chains, from the tax man and from planning rules that are causing potentially viable, good pubs to close their doors for good.”
The 41st Steel City Beer Festival planning continues apace with planning across a variety of areas happening all at once and being co-ordinated and taken forward at monthly meetings (see Beer Matters diary section for upcoming meetings, all volunteers welcome). The festival involves a myriad of tasks outside of just location, equipment, beer and staffing, such as sponsorship, publicity and entertainment. This years entertainment is already starting to come together and looking really good.
On Thursday upstairs we have 2 sets from 9pm form Leeds City Stompers ared hot blues band, conjuring the spirit of prohibition America who headlined the acoustic stage on Friday at Europe’s biggest blues festival in Colne last year. With real 1920s drum kits, slapped double bass, metal resonator guitars from the 1930s and three voices—“making old sounds in a new way” we are really looking forward to hearing them at this years festival.
On Friday night from 9pm the Downtown Roots will be taking to the stage. If you are luck enough to have seen them play in Sheffield already you will already know they have gained an enthusiastic following in a very short time and are now plying their musical wares up and down the country and getting the same response. With Pete Botterill, Bass, and James ‘Skinny’ Darnill, Drums, providing a solid rhythm section, Moz Casserly weaves his guitar with the ability of the some of the guitar greats they will bring their psychedelic tinged, Blues Rock to the festival to create a truly memorable evenings musical entertainment.
Saturday afternoon between 2pm and 4pm sees the welcome return of Loxley Silver Band, established in 1889 in Loxley Methodist Church and rehearsing there until very recently, the band has a friendly family atmosphere with players ranging from 10-80 years. Last year saw the band celebrate their 125th anniversary and they recorded a CD, which is now available to buy. Loxley were also asked to help a Cornwall-based folk-rock band called ‘Love Street’ and played on their hit single “Susanna”, which is all about the Sheffield Pals regiment and their ultimate sacrifice in WW1. An EP including this single is also available, with part of the proceeds going to The Royal British Legion.
Look out in future Beer Matters for details of Saturday nights band as well as something different for the afternoon entertainment.
www.leedscitystompers.com@LCStompershttps://www.facebook.com/TheDowntownRoots@DowntownRootswww.loxleysilverband.og.uk @LoxleyBand
A busy time at the Three Tuns in Dronfield, as you read this the Cheese festival that features platters of various exotic varieties of cheese will have just finished and coming up on the 30th April the pub is hosting Dronfield’s Question time event where prospective local MPs will be present to answer questions from voters – with the beer and comfort the pub offers!
Looking further ahead the Tuns is continuing to offer food on bank holiday Mondays (they are normally closed on Mondays) and they are also once again part of the Three Valleys Festival on 6th June.
As it was both National Science Week and Sheffield Beer Week, it was appropriate to have a beer-themed Science event at the venue of the Sheffield CAMRA Beer Festival. Hence, on Wednesday 18th.March, over 30 Science/Beer buffs arrived at the Millowners Arms to be greeted by a pint of Pale Rider from Kelham Island Brewery (KIB).
This was followed by a short talk on Sheffield Brewery history from ex-Sheffield CAMRA Chairman, John Dowd. Then utilising various samples, Nigel Turnbull, Head Brewer at KIB explained the brewing process.
Participants then adjourned to the classroom where Bob Kibble, Member of the Institute of Physics and the Chair of Doncaster CAMRA took them through their paces with some beer-inspired Science: make your own hydrometer and the exponential decay of the froth on your pint.
After a quick buffet, the evening finished with an ‘Ask the Experts’ session in which John and Nigel were joined by Dave Pickersgill from Sheffield CAMRA. A repeat is planned for Science Week 2016.
Pubs that are listed as Assets of Community Value (England only) require planning permission to be demolished or changed to any other use. In effect existing permitted development rights will be removed for pubs listed as ACVs for as long as the pub is on the local authorities list.
These landmark changes can be attributed to our continued campaign and to the thousands of CAMRA members who lobbied their MP to abolish permitted development rights for pubs. In a second landmark decision a First Tier Tribunal concluded that the London Borough of Lewisham were correct to conclude that a local CAMRA branch is a valid nominating body. As such, local CAMRA branches can now nominate pubs to be listed as Assets of Community Value in their name.
The planning changes and the tribunal decision could see CAMRA’s role in the Community Right to Bid process increase substantially and as a result of these changes CAMRA may have an even greater say in the future of pubs in England.
The changes laid before Parliament on 12th March 2015 came into force on 6th April 2015 and can summarised:
Pubs listed as ACVs require planning permission to change their use or be demolished. This includes pubs already listed as ACVs.
Planning permission will be required to change the use or demolish a pub from the point of nomination. CAMRA requested this to be included in the amendments and the Government obliged.
Planning permission will be required for change of use and/or demolition for the period that the pub is listed: five years from the date of listing.
As part of the changes, pub owners and developers will be required to ascertain whether pubs not on the asset list have actually been nominated. This must be done formally in writing.
The local authority has 56 days to confirm whether the pub is listed or nominated. This means that the owner cannot change use or demolish a pub lawfully within the prescribed 56 day period.
As a result of these changes CAMRA urges members to nominate pubs to your local authority. Sheffield City Council information is available at: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/report_request/community-assets.html
Please note that the nomination of a pub will prevent any immediate change of use or demolition.
Dave Pickersgill
Local Sheffield CAMRA members, Dave Pickersgill and John Stocks gave an illustrated talk, ‘The Worksop and Retford Brewery,’ at The Station Hotel, Worksop on Thursday 26th March. This event was supported by the Worksop Archaeological and Local History Society. It attracted 36 attendees, including a number of ex-employees of the brewery. A repeat event is planned for Worksop Library on 16th September. The associated e-book is available on Kindle.
The latest Retail Price Index (RPI) now includes ‘craft beer’. Hence, we contacted the Office for National Statistics for their definition:
‘The aim is to pick up prices for a single 500ml bottle of beer. They are not mainstream beers, are usually well packaged and are sometimes considered to be of higher quality. They must be UK brewed. Fruit/wheat beers, ginger beer and lagers are excluded from the collection. It could be produced by a micro brewery or a major brewer but should not be one of the standard brands. We leave the selection to the collectors and the expectation is that they will select a reasonably wide range of beers that fit the broad description. That way, we increase the number of prices collected and have as wide a sample as possible with the aim of best measuring price change. ‘
So there we have it, at last a clear definition, the UK Government, Office for National Statistics say ‘craft beer’ is UK-brewed and only available in 500 ml bottles. However, it is not a ‘standard brand.’
