Volunteer To Help
You don’t need to be a member of the branch Committee to get involved. There are many duties that need carrying out throughout the year and we welcome branch members (and non-members) input to everything. To offer your services email secretary@nottinghamcamra.org or speak to any committee member.
For general information about volunteering read the National leaflet.
Get involved with the Nottingham Drinker
Our very popular and successful branch magazine “Nottingham Drinker” is put together by a team of volunteers and further help is always welcome. The editors are always pleased to receive articles for inclusion, complete with photographs or other images where appropriate. In addition we could always use help with such tasks as selling advertising space, distribution of copies to pubs etc. For more information or to offer your services email secretary@nottinghamcamra.org.
Adopt a pub (or two)
Like most CAMRA branches, we have more pubs than the Committee alone could possibly keep up to date with. So we ask that Branch members and non-members alike to visit pubs in their local area and drop the us a note of any changes you see. Changes can cover wide areas such as change of owner/landlord, a refurbishment, a change in beer stocking policy, introduction of LocAle beers and real ciders.
Work at a Beer Festival
Contact the Staffing Officer of Beer Festivals and become a volunteer. We rely on volunteers to staff all the CAMRA sponsored Beer Festivals in our Branch area, so your help will be very much appreciated. No experience is necessary as guidance will be given by CAMRA members who have been volunteering for some time. We understand that everyone has busy lives, so just volunteer for the hours that you can offer and we will work a schedule around your availability.
For the annual Nottingham Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival in October then visit the Festival website. We need volunteers from two weeks before the festival opens all the way through to the Sunday afterwards to include setting up and take down. The festival itself runs from Wed until Sat. To serve on the bars, volunteers are needed from 10 am until close to help out on both beer and cider bars, or anything else you could assist us with. It is really rewarding, as the many volunteers will attest to.
Lobby your MP
Often this can result in progressing CAMRA’s aims by raising issues with parliament. CAMRA Headquarters often asks people to write to their MP or local councillor. The quantity of letters received is what makes an impact and it only takes a few minutes. If you would like to be involved, just ensure that CAMRA’s Membership staff have your email address. Simply email camra@camra.org.uk saying that you are happy for CAMRA to contact you and quoting your name and either your address or CAMRA membership number.
Join in the selection of Branch Pub Of The Year (POTY)
So How Do You Judge A Pub? We explain how Nottingham CAMRA arrive at the shortlist for Pub of the Year and then judge the Winner.
Everyone who has ever visited more than one pub will have an opinion
about which is their favourite pub. Everyone will have their own idea
and their own way of judging a pub. Everyone will have their own
thoughts about how to score one pub against another.
This is the sometimes difficult issue that confronts those people
involved in judging Pub of the Year contenders: whatever pub comes out
on top and whichever pubs are shortlisted, sadly some will disagree and
may be disappointed by the result. However, to be fair and open, CAMRA
have produced detailed guidance on judging to achieve an accurate
reflection of what a great pub should be.
However, it is important to bear in mind that Nottingham CAMRA’s Pub of
the Year competition has to meet CAMRA’s stated aims and objectives. So
the winning pub has to be a great CAMRA pub too.
Let’s try to answer the common questions that are asked about the Pub of the Year (POTY) award:
How are the pubs nominated?
Nominations are sought at Nottingham CAMRA branch meetings and through
the pages of the Nottingham Drinker; the only criteria being “Do you
think it is a good pub?” and “Would it be a worthy winner of Pub Of The
Year?”. Requests for nominations are also sent out in the branch mail
out and a dedicated email address is open all year for nominations:
poty@nottinghamcamra.org
How is the short-list arrived at?
To enable the competition to be judged in a reasonable time-frame, only a
certain number of pubs will go through to the final stages. If a very
large number of pubs have been nominated, the branch POTY coordinator
looks at all the entries and, assuming no changes have occurred at the
establishment since the previous competition, any pubs that have failed
to get into the top half of the previous list will be eliminated at that
stage.
How is the final judging panel made up? Are they all Committee members?
Volunteers are invited to come forward, once again at meetings and
through the pages of the Nottingham Drinker and mail out. The majority
are ordinary branch members although a few committee members do join in.
There is no selection process to pick volunteers – everyone who
volunteers is accepted. A desire to show impartiality is very important
to us and we have even been joined by publicans in the past (but of
course, this is where their pubs have not been nominated!).
What experience do the members of the judging panel need as a minimum?
There is no experience necessary; the only thing asked is that you must
visit all the pubs on the judging list, not just a selection, thus
giving every nomination an equal opportunity.
The Judging
There are six criteria that the judging is based upon.
1. Quality of Beer/Cider/Perry
For a pub to get onto the short-list then it is a safe bet (we hope!)
that it serves excellent real ale and real cider or perry. The National
Beer Scoring System (NBSS) used by CAMRA members to record their
thoughts on a pub’s offerings is a good starting point for picking out
good pubs. The scores submitted by CAMRA members who visit our Branch
area pubs are a very reliable guide to the quality of real ale and the
cellar team’s skills in serving a good pint. Nottingham CAMRA’s Tasting
Panel also visits our Branch area pubs on a regular basis and their
scores are an extremely reliable indicator of the performance by the
pub and its team. This is the most important category when judging a
pub and so the scores in this section are heavily weighted. Note that
this category is also one that is assessed over repeated visits to
ensure consistent quality. It must always be remembered that a couple of
beers served in excellent condition will score much more highly than a
pub with 8 or more handpulls serving indifferent or variable quality
beers.
2. Atmosphere, Style and Décor
This is mainly looking at a pub where you will feel at home and feel
comfortable. Is the pub a place you’d want to visit regularly? Does it
have a nice “feel”? Is it a pleasant, clean and safe environment? Is it a
friendly place to be? The judges will also be looking at sympathy for
the building and the pub’s heritage – any pub no matter how old or new
can be excellent and score well on its own terms.
3. Service and Welcome
For the purposes of judging, the approach is taken of being a stranger
in the pub, visiting for the first time. One would expect to be treated
promptly and courteously, with a level of friendship. Key is being
treated as a person, a valued customer and not just a means to pay the
bills. If the pub is busy or the bar staff are chatting somewhere, have
they acknowledged you – and are you then served promptly? Is your glass a
full measure and topped up if required – or do you have to ask? And if
you do ask, what is the response?
4. Community Focus
To be considered for a CAMRA Pub of the Year, it should be inclusive and
not exclusive. Are all sectors of the community welcomed? Does the pub
cater for people of all ages and from diverse backgrounds? Whether the
pub is in the city centre, suburbs or a rural setting, the pub should
demonstrate some community feel and focus. This category is the second
most weighted focus as CAMRA believes pubs are vital to communities.
5. Sympathy with CAMRA Aims
The most obvious way this can be seen is by the way real ale and real
cider or perry, are actively promoted. Those drinks that CAMRA promote
and protect should not be playing “second fiddle” to other drink
promotions. Does the pub promote CAMRA’s values generally? Are oversize
lined glasses used? Is there a clear and obvious price list?
6. Good Value
This is not about cheap drink but whether you feel you have had good
value for money. Would you want to return to the pub? Does travelling to
the pub and spending both money and time there leave you with a
feel-good factor? A pub scoring highly here should leave all customers
with a good overall pub experience.
What happens next? How are the results worked out?
The judging consists of two rounds; the initial short list is judged and
after reviewing all the scores on a spreadsheet, the three top scoring
pubs will get a further visit and will be judged again using the same
criteria as before. This second pub visit during this final round will
also be done on different days and times to the previous visit; for
example, if one visit was done on say, a Wednesday, then the next visit
would possibly be a Friday or Saturday, to give a different perspective
of the place. So we hope you will now have a much clearer understanding
of the process used by Nottingham CAMRA. We do need folks to fill in
the NBSS score cards – online or via paper copy – and submit their
scores. We trust that folks will feel confident, with the judging
criteria above born in mind, to nominate pubs at any time of the year
via the email link quoted. We also hope that more members will feel they
want to be part of the process and look out for news of when the POTY
judging for next year is getting readied.