Minutes of the Kent Regional Meeting held at the Bradstow Mill, Broadstairs on Saturday 18th May 2019 The meeting commenced at 12.08 with Martin Knight, Thanet Branch Chairman, in the chair. SYNOPSIS The post of regional director was still vacant but Kae Mendham was acting in an interim capacity until July. It was noted that it would be acceptable to elect an interim regional director to serve less than the full three year term. The other regional directors have suggested that, in the continuing absence of a regional director, the Kent region should be amalgamated with Surrey & Sussex, possibly with some branches passing to London. Winding the region up was not seen as an urgent priority but it will eventually be necessary to impose a regional director if a local candidate is not found. If a merger resulted it might be an advantage to have a deputy regional director to cover Kent, but that officer would have to have internet access. If there is still no candidate for regional director at the July meeting moves will be started at a higher level of the campaign to resolve the situation. The Winter Gardens at Margate had been suggested as a possible venue for a Members’ Weekend and Annual General Meeting, though this would not happen until at least 2022. However issues had been raised about the cost and availability of accommodation. It was thought locally that accommodation would NOT be a problem. As at late afternoon on the day before the meeting only four branch reports out of ten had been received, with a further two arriving that evening. ALL branches are expected to submit a report to the Kent Yahoo group in sufficient time for it to be read before the meeting, ideally a week ahead. 1 ATTENDANCE 1.1 Branches not represented: Swale, West Kent. Total Attendance 18. 1.2 Also present were: Adrian Moss Secretary Jeff Waller Area Organiser, East Kent Ian Fielder Area Organiser, West Kent Kae Mendham Regional Finance Officer Geoff Hetherington Regional Treasurer Linda Thompson Regional Cider Co-ordinator Catherine Tonry National Executive Paul Sanders Regional Director, Surrey & Sussex 1.3 Apologies for Absence have been received from: Trevor Champ, Gerry Keay, Peter Page-Mitchell (SE & Kent Brewery Liaison Co-ordinator), Gary Timmins (National Executive), Jeff Tucker, Swale Branch. 2 MINUTES OF LAST MEETING Approved. 2.1 Matters Arising. 2.1.1 The application for Asset of Community Value listing for the Two Doves in Canterbury has been submitted and a decision is due in June (minute 5.1 refers). 2.2 ACTION LIST (New items and status changes in bold). No Description Actionee(s) Required by Status 93 Seek a volunteer Regional Branches As soon as Ongoing. Cider Representative to possible succeed Linda Thompson. 95 Establish a system for Regional Next meeting Closed. A reporting from the Kent Beer Director report had Festival to the regional been received meeting. before the meeting. 99 Urgently seek a candidate Branches Next meeting Ongoing but for regional director in the see Minute 3.3. light of the risk to the region resulting from not having one for a lengthy period. 100 Send copies of branch Branches After each New. accounts to Kae AGM Mendham as finance officer. 101 Confirm that national Editors As soon as New. judging of magazines is possible still required. 102 Submit timely reports to Branches Each meeting New. the Kent Yahoo group before each regional meeting. 3 REGIONAL DIRECTOR’S REPORT 3.1 The post was still vacant but Kae Mendham was acting in an interim capacity until July. It was noted that it would be acceptable to elect an interim regional director to serve less than the full three year term. 3.2 The other regional directors have suggested that, in the continuing absence of a regional director, the Kent region should be amalgamated with Surrey & Sussex, possibly with some branches passing to London. It had been noted that there were two active area organisers and other officers and winding the region up was not seen as an urgent priority. However it will eventually be necessary to impose a regional director if a local candidate is not found. If a merger resulted it might be an advantage to have a deputy regional director to cover Kent, but that officer would have to have internet access. 3.3 If there is still no candidate for regional director at the July meeting moves will be started at a higher level of the campaign to resolve the situation. 3.4 The Winter Gardens at Margate had been suggested as a possible venue for a Members’ Weekend and Annual General Meeting, though this would not happen until at least 2022. However issues had been raised about the cost and availability of accommodation, apparently as a result of a perceived high take-up by London boroughs for temporary housing. It was thought locally that accommodation would NOT be a problem, though the event would inevitably be very close to the Planet Thanet beer festival. 3.5 Kent will still be expected to host Branches Committee and National Executive meetings one weekend at some point. 4 AREA ORGANISERS’ REPORTS 4.1 Kent (East) Jeff had attended the Ashford AGM. 4.2 Kent (West) Ian had attended the West Kent AGM. 5 CAMPAIGNING 5.1 Information on the new Summer of Pub campaign was available via the CAMRA website. It was mentioned that not all branch committee members had computers to access this but pointed out that the branch contact is responsible for ensuring that information from a branch mailout is passed through the branch. It was noted that some members were finding that the new layout of the branch mailout was making it less easy to navigate to find the important items. 5.2 Canterbury Branch were hoping to finance in some way a subsidy to enable members to visit struggling rural pubs in the area. Paying for beer would not be acceptable but transport could be justified as a campaigning activity, particularly if organised as part of Summer of Pub. 6 FINANCE 6.1 General Finance The current balance was £232.29. No requests for funding were submitted by branches. Linda Thompson was thanked for her work as regional treasurer. 6.2 Account signatories It was resolved that the authorised signatories in the current mandate for the CAMRA Kent Regional bank account be changed to remove Linda Thompson as Regional Treasurer and to add John Geoffrey Hetherington as Regional Treasurer. Also that the current mandate will continue as amended. 6.3 General Matters It was noted with thanks that Thanet branch had returned their beer festival loan, that Dover had remitted £2000 to HQ following their beer festival and that Medway had returned part of the loan for their loss-making beer festival. Dover’s accounts needed auditing and a copy then needed to be sent to Kae Mendham as finance officer. Branches should now submit copies of all audited accounts to her. 7 PUB OF THE YEAR, CIDER PUB OF THE YEAR AND CLUB OF THE YEAR. 7.1 Pub of the Year Scores were now being submitted for the East and West Kent rounds though more were needed by the end of May. 7.2 Club of the Year Seven judges from six branches were known to be involved. Scores were needed by the end of July. 7.3 Cider Pub of the Year The East Kent winner was the Berry at Walmer and the West Kent winner and overall winner Larkins Alehouse at Cranbrook. The results were not subject to embargo. 8 CIDER 8.1 The latest report from the Regional Cider Co-ordinator is on file. The Small Independent Cidermakers Association is a new Community Interest Company owned by its members, but committed to the community. Membership is available both to small independent cidermakers and to members of the public who have a keen interest in cider made from fresh apples. It has a new national quality mark for cider, which can be awarded to ciders that are made from fresh-pressed UK apples and are a minimum of 90% apple juice. 9 PUBLICATIONS 9.1 Good Beer Guide Proofs were currently being checked and Kae Mendham had compiled corrections. Branches would then see the amended proofs to check. The official view on including clubs was that beer quality was the only fixed criterion. Access was a grey area but inclusion of a club with limits on it may alienate users who can’t gain entry. 9.2 Magazines Production of Medway Beer Belly was still on hold. The scope of Draught Copy might be expanded to include West Kent branch. It could possibly also cover Medway in future should it not be possible to continue with Medway Beer Belly. Branches should confirm whether their magazines are still to be included in the national judging process. If so the usual number of copies would need to be submitted. Channel Draught was the national runner-up Most Improved Magazine for 2019. 9.3 Websites Membership of the Kent Yahoo group has now been rationalised. An attempt would now be made by Ian Clennett to contact a few untraced members to see if they wished their membership to continue. 10 BREWERIES (items not covered by submitted reports) 10.1 Curious Brew will be opening a brewery tap at their Kent site soon but all the beer will still be keg. 11 FESTIVALS (those having significant CAMRA involvement) Issues related to festivals should now be raised with Catherine Tonry as the director responsible for them.