Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Congrats to @peartreeHN on winning @banburynews Pub of the Year 2015. Presentation tomorrow at noon. Time for a pint to celebrate? #news

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) December 7, 2015

December 07, 2015 at 06:33PM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Planning #news: Merrymouth Inn, Fifield have appealed against refusal of permission to convert into 5 houses. Ref APP/D3125/W/15/3137173

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) November 19, 2015

November 19, 2015 at 02:23PM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Planning #news: application to convert Duke of Wellington, Banbury to 3 houses permitted ... https://t.co/fxU0r41KGs #UseItOrLoseIt

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) November 10, 2015

November 10, 2015 at 11:20AM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Sad #news: @HarrowEnstone14 has closed until further notice. https://t.co/4mBjjl2pud

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) October 24, 2015

October 24, 2015 at 11:29PM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Two North Oxon pubs reopen today after renovations ... @YeOldeReineDeer & @thefoxatchippy #news

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) October 23, 2015

October 23, 2015 at 10:30AM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Over the border from North Oxon, but local nonetheless ... good #news from @Purityale. https://t.co/aaGMaJQ6Nm

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) October 21, 2015

October 21, 2015 at 10:41AM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Planning #news: application to turn Quart Pot in Milton under Wychwood into housing has been withdrawn. Will it resurface with modification?

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) October 20, 2015

October 20, 2015 at 11:57AM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Planning #news: application made to convert Duke of Wellington in Banbury into 3 houses plus 2 more behind ... http://t.co/fxU0r41KGs

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) September 21, 2015

September 21, 2015 at 12:44PM via IFTTT

Beer Festival Helpers Trip to South Wales

Here's a date for your diaries : Saturday 17th October, 2015.

The annual Banbury Beer & Cider Festival Helpers' trip this year promises to be an adventurous day out. The destination is Wales, which was the festival's themed region during this year's BBCF.

From the usual early morning start, the coach will travel to South Wales and visit a brewery before moving on to the popular Gwaelod Y Garth Inn, a CAMRA award winning pub where lunch and a sample of real ales will be on offer.

The next port of call will be Cardiff, where everyone is free to explore and enjoy the city at their leisure. Tiny Rebel's untraditional Welsh red ale Cwtch, voted supreme champion beer of Britain at this year's GBBF, is brewed not far away, you might like to seek out this or other local beers in one of the city's fine pubs, or visit the indoor market or the castle.

The trip is FREE to those who volunteered to work at BBCF this year, otherwise the cost is £15 for CAMRA members or £18 for non-members. This includes transport to and from Wales from a range of pick-up points including Enstone, Middle Barton, Kidlington, Bicester and Banbury.

To book a place on the coach, please contact the BBCF bar manager Andrew Davison: andrewpdavison@yahoo.co.uk
Places are available on a first come first served basis, a pick-up schedule will be emailed to those who book (please arrive at the pick-up point in plenty of time).

This promises to be a great day out; hope you can join us.

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Good #news : @WodcNews planning have again refused permission for developers to turn Merrymouth Inn, Fifield into housing. #PubsMatter

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) September 11, 2015

September 11, 2015 at 12:04PM via IFTTT

656 Red Lions

Well done to Cathy Price who today completes her epic quest having journeyed around Britain visiting all of the pubs named the Red Lion - 656 of them! After 4.5 years, her last Red Lion will be the community pub in Northmoor, a few miles west of Oxford. If you're in the area, why not pop along to congratulate her, from 5pm.
Click here to see more about Cathy's quest. There will be a book published soon.

2016 Good Beer Guide Launch

The 2016 Good Beer Guide will be launched on Thursday 10th September, featuring more than 4,500 pubs across the country selected by local CAMRA members for the quality of their real ale. Why not join us on launch day to celebrate the new edition? We'll be at the Hook Norton Brewery visitor centre, from 5pm-8pm. This coincides with an "open tap takeover" event at the brewery, where they invite the public along to sample beers from Hooky's core range as well as their pilot plant's "crafty ales". Thanks to the brewery for allowing us to include our GBG launch at their event. Copies of the new edition will be on sale, at discounted prices (£10 to CAMRA members, £13 to non-members).

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Another reason to get yourself over to the @HookyBrewery open day this Saturday ... #news https://t.co/QqH4fjXd8s

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) August 21, 2015

August 21, 2015 at 05:56PM via IFTTT

Tweet from @NorthOxonCAMRA

Merrymouth Inn, Fifield under threat again. Another planning appln to turn into 5 houses... WODC 15/02660/FUL: http://t.co/Su7ofZfz6z #news

— NorthOxonCAMRA (@NorthOxonCAMRA) August 6, 2015

August 06, 2015 at 09:25AM via IFTTT

Upcoming social events

A couple of social events have been kindly organised by our membership secretary Paul Forrest.


The first is tomorrow Sunday 26th July, at a great pub which recently won the accolade of being voted our 2015 Branch Pub of the Year, The Red Lion in Horley.

There will be guest ales, including I'm told a brand new strawberry blonde beer from nearby Turpin Brewery, traditional pub games and a BBQ. From 12:30 onwards.


Secondly there will be a minibus trip on Saturday 8th August to the excellent Ale & Steam weekend which is a collaboration between the North Cotswold branch of CAMRA and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
The minibus will leave Banbury at 10am and travel via Hook Norton and Chipping Norton.
Cost* is £10 for CAMRA members, £15 for guests. Contact Paul to book a place

* Cost is for the minibus only, it doesn't include entrance to the festival or beer, sorry!


Looking slightly further ahead, GBBF isn't far away - book your tickets now!

Committee Changes at the AGM, and an urgent plea.

The branch AGM was held at the Harrow in Enstone on 13th July. Ales from CATS brewery (local to our branch) and from Adnams were enjoyed by all.

As a result of the AGM there are a couple of changes to the committee.

Paul Forrest is stepping down as vice chairman, though he's continuing his membership secretary role.

Lynne Baldwin is stepping down as branch secretary, but has instead taken on the roles of vice chairman and public affairs officer. A lady of many hats within CAMRA, she's also area organiser for Oxfordshire.

Brian Wray is stepping down as Pub Campaigns Coordinator (the role formerly known as Pubs Officer), but will continue in numerous roles as he's still our Pub Protection Officer and Pub Database Coordinator. He has also agreed to be the Good Beer Guide Coordinator.

Nick Faulkner is stepping down as treasurer, replaced by Simon Whitehead.

Russell Broom will be working with Helen Jones as joint social secretary.

Many thanks to everyone who attended the AGM, to all the committee members old and new and to the Harrow for hosting us.


You may glean from the above that we have no branch secretary or pub campaigns coordinator currently. This is a problem, especially in the case of branch secretary as this is a core role without which the branch cannot function. As such, the Regional Director Nick Boley has stated he will be forced to wind up our branch if nobody steps forward.

Obviously we're very keen to avoid this situation, especially with a continually growing membership (now 625) and another successful Banbury Beer & Cider festival fresh in our minds.

Helen Jones has agreed to take on the role of secretary temporarily - we have 3 months to appoint somebody before Nick starts asking questions.

So the (rather predictable) plea:

If there's a branch member out there who'd be willing to help us avert disaster by taking on the role of secretary, we would be most grateful.

CAMRA's guidelines on what the branch secretary role entails can be found on our website here.

Similarly, pub campaigns coordinator is also a very important role which we are keen to fill.
The guidelines for this role entails are online here.

We also have a vacancy for Press & Publicity officer.

Please contact the chairman if you'd like to take on a more active role in our branch.

Cheers.
GJ

Branch AGM this Monday

The 2015 AGM of the North Oxon branch of CAMRA will take place at the Harrow, Enstone at 8pm on Monday 13th July.

Come along and join us!

You can find an agenda and the minutes from last year's AGM on our website using the links below.

Agenda
2014 Minutes

Regional Final Pub of the Year voting

There's still time for CAMRA members in our area to vote for the Central Southern region's Pub of the Year.

The finalists are :

• Queen's Head, Wokingham
• Rising Sun, Berkhamsted
• Royal Oak, Wantage

You can download the voting form (MS Excel spreadsheet) here.
Please send any completed forms by 25th July to the regional director: rd.centralsouthern@camra.org.uk