DECEMBER
High
Five, 1000 and counting ...
The
branch's recent Christmas social at Darlington Snooker Club gave the
opportunity to present proprietor Peter Everett the CAMRA North East
Club of the Year for 2008 certificate. Despite being under the
threat of closure, the snooker club situated on Northgate and the only
snooker club to appear in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide won the award for the
fifth time running this time pipping Chester-le-Street Cricket Club to
the award. Of behalf of the North East region, Deputy North East
Regional Director Ian Jackson, right in picture, presented Peter with
the award and cited the club as an excellent community facility along
with the commitment to real ale which includes a choice of up to four
real ales from breweries countrywide, but emphasises in beers from local
micros.
Despite a difficult year, Peter thanked everyone including regulars and staff who helped the snooker club win the award for the fifth time running and looked forward to making it "six in a row" in 2009
On Friday 23rd January, the club reached another milestone in serving its 1000th different beer when a total of seven beers were on sale on the night instead of the usual four available. All the beer names on sale were put into a hat and Ouseburn Porter from Hadrian and Border Brewery based in Byker on Tyneside was selected as being the 1000th beer sold.
In light of this recognition Peter hopes to present Hadrian and Border Brewery with a plaque marking this achievement.
NOVEMBER
Yard
Marker:
A
beer from the Yard of Ale Brewery, situated at the Surtees Arms in
Ferryhill Station, County Durham was the Beer of the Festival winner at
our Rhythm 'n' Brews 2008 Festival.
One
Foot in the Yard, a
4.5% golden coloured ale beat off competition from fifty other beers and
brewer Alan Hogg, having only launched the brewery back in June was
thrilled to have won the award. One Foot in the Yard is made using pale
and crystal malts with pilgrim and cascade hops and Alan says: “If you
like a beer with a fruity, robust character then this is for you”.
A
Rhythm 'n' Brews Beer Festival Workers Trip on Friday 14th November
visited the Surtees Arms. On offer from the Yard of Ale Brewery situated
in the back yard were Alan's first beer, the appropriately named First
Yard at 3.8%, the award winning One Foot in the Yard plus the new stout
entitled "Black as Owt" at 4.2%. Besides the excellent ales on
offer, the workers were treated to beef sausages flavoured with both
First Yard and One Foot in the Yard and pork sausages flavoured with One
Foot in the Yard. Following a brewery tour a presentation was made to
Alan by Beer Festival Organiser Ian Jackson, right in picture.
The
Beer of the Festival runner
up was Tokyo Imperial Stout from the Brewdog Brewery based in
Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire in Scotland while Dog Vader from the
Watermill Brewery at Ings in Cumbria finished third.
Teesdale
Triumph.
Recently, branch
members over the last few months have been busy in surveying pubs in the
picturesque area of Teesdale covering our branch area. And the reason ?.
To award our Pub of the Season for Teesdale.
There are many outlets within this scenic area eligible to win the award and our choice as overall winner was the Black Horse at Ingleton.
A presentation was made by the Branch's Pubs Officer Pete Fenwick to landlord Peter Dodd, left in picture, on Thursday 6th November. The Black Horse usually has three real ales on offer with Jennings Cocker Hoop being a regular along with two guests which on our visit were Wychwood Hobgoblin and Black Sheep Ale.
Runner up in the competition was the Strathmore Arms in Holwick, a previous Country Pub of the Year winner and in joint third in the award were the Langdon Beck Hotel at Langdon Beck and Bowes WMC in Bowes.
The Pub of the Season award for Teesdale is the first award of this kind to pubs in our branch area. Our next Pub of the Season Award will be for a pub on the outskirts of Darlington in County Durham with voting taking place soon followed by an award to a pub in the North Yorkshire part of our branch.
SEPTEMBER
It's
a Sell Out !
The Rhythm 'n' Brews
Beer Festival again proved to be a popular event with punters drinking
us completely dry with the 50 beers and ciders plus perry being downed
by punters just after 10pm on the Saturday evening.
The Beer of the Festival as voted by punters was Yard Of Ale's First Foot in the Yard, a 2.5 barrel brewed situated at the Surtees Arms in Ferryhill Station. Runner up was Tokyo Imperial Stout from Brewdog based in Fraserburgh in Scotland while Dog Vader from the Watermill Brewery at Ings in Cumbria finished third in the voting.
The Cider of the Festival was Burrow Hill's Farmhouse Scrumpy, the runner up was Springfield's Red Dragon and in joint third in the voting were Whin Hill's Major Single Variety and Blaegawney Medium from Blaegawney.
Our chosen charity for the beer festival was the Great North Air Ambulance and people donated a total of £161.57 to this worthy cause and a presentation will made to this charity soon.
Thanks to all who attended the festival both as punters and volunteers and we look forward to seeing you all at next year's Spring Thing Festival.
AUGUST
The
Final Frame ?.
The future of Darlington Snooker Club
appears to have finally been settled with the news that the recently
awarded CAMRA North East Club for 2008 may be turned into flats.
Owner Derek White of White Brothers, the freehold owners of the premises occupied by Darlington Snooker Club (pictured), a winner of North East CAMRA Club of the Year from 2004 to 2007 and recently awarded the prize once more for 2008, appealed to the Planning Inspectorate against the refusal of planning permission last year by Darlington Borough Council and this resulted in the inspectorate upholding the appeal.
Proprietor Peter Everett, and chairman of Darlington CAMRA, criticised the decision saying that despite many objections to the conversion including petitions, the loss of such a community facility founded in 1915 showed the fact that they don't care about the club. Local Councillor Mike Barber also voiced his concerns stating that a local amenity and sporting facility would be lost to even more flats in Darlington, and that local opinion and democracy counted for so little these days. Children from Corporation Road Primary School also lent their support to the snooker club by having snooker sessions after school for a trial period. These soon became so popular that they have continued with assistance of licensee Peter, who was a former pupil of the school.
Although the lease of the club to Peter Everett by Derek White does not expire until the latter part of next year, any work to convert the club into flats could not take place until then and Mr White will decide the future of the club at that time.
The Final Frame for Darlington Snooker Club ? - Let's hope not.
Meanwhile, our congratulations go to Peter and all the staff at Darlington Snooker Club on winning the CAMRA North East Club of the Year Award for 2008, thus making it the fifth year in a row it has won the award. Click here to read about the presentation.
JUNE
It's
out !.
The latest issue of Real Ale in and around
Darlington & Teesdale has been published.
Featuring over 120 pubs crammed into over 30 pages, the new guide gives details of pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants and off-licences. They range from basic boozers to classy country retreats, with only one thing in common: they all serve traditional British beer in the most traditional way - real ale.
The guide covers the full Darlington CAMRA area - not just the town but the area around it, including parts of North Yorkshire as well as beautiful Teesdale. Copies of the guide should be available wherever you pick up the new issue of Darlington Drinker 170.
To see the online version of this guide click here.
MAY
Branch
Pubs of the Year.
The Branch's Annual
General Meeting recently took place at the William Stead in Darlington.
Branch members were given their opportunity to vote for their favourite
Town and Country Pubs of the Year. Unbelievably, the Number Twenty-2 and
the Quakerhouse received the same amount of votes but a second vote gave
the Town Pub of the Year to the Number Twenty-2, thus repeating its 2007
success. The Quakerhouse became the runner up in the Town category and
The Britannia, winner of the award in 2005 and current Town Community
Pub of the Year finished third in the voting.
A presentation was made on Tuesday 20th May by branch chairman Peter Everett, right in picture, to licensee Ralph Wilkinson and it was the fifth time that the pub in Coniscliffe Road has won this award.
In
the Country Pub of the Year competition, the Crown at Manfield, pictured
left, won the award for the seventh time in a row. The Red Lion at
Cotherstone, the branch's Country Community Pub of the Year was second
while the Shoulder of Mutton at Kirby Hill was third in the voting.
A presentation was made on Tuesday 13th May by branch Pubs Officer Pete Fenwick, left in picture, to licensees Peter and Karen Hynes. It is the seventh time in a row that the Crown has won this award.
Five
on the spin.
Darlington Snooker Club
has once again won Darlington CAMRA's branch Club of the Year. It is the
fifth time the club has won the award, and it has been a great
achievement in winning again after seeing an application to turn the
club into apartments being overturned back in September last year.
A presentation was made on Thursday 15th May by branch committee member Alan Holmes to proprietor Peter Everett during the club's Booze 'n' Cues Beer Festival. Peter thanked everyone including club members, CAMRA members and his staff who have helped him during the threat of closure. Darlington Snooker Club enters the North East Club of the Year Competition for 2008, a competition it has won since 2004.
Charity
Presentation.
At
the Spring Thing Festival our chosen charity this time was Macmillan
Cancer Support.
Many punters at the festival donated their unused cash on the beer cards plus any loose change towards the chosen charity and overall £181.95 was raised. Beer Festival Organiser Ian Jackson presented Jill Campbell, right in picture, the Fundraising Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support with a cheque at their Darlington Office recently. Jill thanked Darlington CAMRA for choosing Macmillan Cancer Support as their chosen charity and for their efforts.
APRIL
Easter
Island, a seasonal special from the Captain Cook Brewery in Stokesley
won Beer of the Festival at the 2008 Spring Thing Beer Festival. For the
4 barrel brewery, based behind the rear of the White Swan in Stokesley,
North Yorkshire it was a special success especially for new brewer Ian
Jackson, as the 4.1% malty flavoured ale was the first beer he brewed
there after joining there in early March from Wear Valley Brewery.
As part of a Spring Thing Beer Festival Workers Trip to the Captain Cook Brewery, a presentation was made to Ian by Branch member Pete Fenwick, left in picture. The Beer of the Festival runner up was SS Darlington at 4.0%, brewed especially for the festival by Dark Tribe Brewery from North Lincolnshire while Slipway, also from the Captain Cook Brewery finished third in the voting making it a double success for the new man aboard the ship !.
FEBRUARY
In
the Community ...
At our January
Branch
Meeting at
Darlington Cricket Club,
we had the unenviable
task of looking
at pubs submitted by
branch members which had an
opportunity of winning
our Community Pub Awards for 2008, with
the award presentations
taking
place during CAMRA's
Community Pubs Week
which runs from 16th to 23rd February.
For
the Country Community Pub
Award category, last
year's winner the
Crown at Manfield was pipped by the
Red Lion purely for the reasons
submitted by landlord
Richard Robinson on
behalf of his regulars. These included use by
clubs of
the dining room in the pub during the week, and Richard himself selling
raffle tickets over the bar for various
events. A presentation was made to
the Red Lion in Cotherstone on Saturday 16th
February. The reasons
for winning were well in evidence on our arrival with
locals playing dominoes (top
picture),
and so
our very
own branch members
John Carling and Fred Lawton duly
joined
in the fun. Branch
member and Community Pubs Committee Organiser
Malcolm Dunstone presented landlord
Richard Robinson, right in picture,
with the Country
Community Pub
of the Year 2008 Award
in front of a pub packed
full of regulars.
Richard, one of the youngest licensees thanked his regulars for
making the pub what it is, described by one of
the locals as "a cracking village
boozer".
In
the Town Community Pub Award category there
were
4 entries, The Britannia, Hole in the Wall, The Quakerhouse and the
recently re-opened
White Horse in Harrowgate Hill. Again, after
the hearing the reasons
for submission, the Britannia was
declared the winner following up its success in the last year's
competition. Branch Chairman Peter Everett
presented landlady Sue Carr, right in
picture, with
the Town
Community Pub of the Year 2008 Award. Sue
thanked all her regulars and those who use the pub for their
community activities
such as the
Spraire Lads Football Club, The Folk Club and Rotary Club.
The pub itself organises events including the popular
annual "Britannia
Whitby Trip" which takes place in August
during
Whitby's Folk
Week and also
celebrates Burn's
Night, St Patrick's Day and St George's Day with traditional food dishes.
Sue and partner Terry will also be
celebrating
7 years at the Britannia
at the end of March.
Congratulations to both the Britannia and The Red Lion on their community awards.
Windie
wonderland ...
Branch members Pete Fenwick, Ian
Jackson, John Magson and former Branch Social Secretary Ian McAlpine
recently visited the Ayrshire area of south west Scotland to make a
presentation at the Failford Inn, Failford near Ayr pictured left.
Situated within the pub is the Windie Goat Brewery and their beer
Peden's Cove at 3.5% was the winner of Beer of the Festival at last
year's September's Rhythm 'n' Brews Beer Festival. The beer takes its
name from the area nearby where the Covenanter Alexander Peden was
rumoured to have preached in the
17th century.
The
presentation was made by Beer Festival Organiser Ian Jackson, left in
picture, in front of a packed pub to brewster Michelle Kesall, right in
picture. Michelle, who ironically was born in Darlington thanked the
branch for the award and all her regular customers. Also available on
the night from Windie Goat Brewery was Fisherman's Pride at 5% but this
unfortunately ran out and was replaced by Priest's Wheel, an amber ale
flavoured with American hops at 4.3%, named after a fishing pool on the
nearby river Ayr. The two Windie Goat beers were also supplemented by a
guest beer from Blackwater Brewery's Detox at 4.0% from "south of
the border" in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
After an excellent meal and a few more beers, the trip headed back to their base in Ayr checking out the Good Beer Guide listed pubs, including the highly recommended Geordie's Byre. Our thanks go to Michelle and all the staff and regulars at the Failford Inn for their hospitality, not to mention the excellent beer !.
Click here to visit Michelle's Windie Goat "brewery blog" for news, including our presentation.