The formation meeting of Northants branch was held in October 1974 (can anyone remember the exact date?) at The George, Brixworth in the old “function room”. Over 40 people attended and a committee was elected comprising of Reg Ansty (chairman), Fred Collins (secretary), John Buckby (treasurer), with Miles Rhodes, Russ Thomas, Frank Etherington, Roger Payne and Roger Pocock as committee members (apologies if anyone has been forgotten). Over the first 10 years, the branch had many changes in committee, a testimony to the high number of active members. Later chairmen were Fred Collins, Brian Waller, Mick Bolshaw and Dave Pickles.

In those days the branch covered a larger area to what it does today, especially to the north and towards Peterborough. To provide a better coverage for the county and to reduce the number of miles it took members to drive to meetings, it was decided in 1980 to form a separate East Northants branch, with Lynne Roberts (chairman), Mick Groom (secretary) and Gordon Thompson (treasurer). This ran very successfully for five years but sadly folded due to the lack of a new chairman when Lynne stood down and the two branches then remerged.

The beer scene in the county then was very different to what we are fortunate to have today. Like Norfolk, Northants was often referred to as a “real ale desert” largely due to the many brewery takeovers which took place in the county in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries (many by Watneys), and the increase in marketing of keg and pressurised beers. Free Houses were rare but not all was doom and gloom, as several other breweries held on to tied houses dotted around the county. To name just a few; in the south, there were several beautiful and unspoilt Hook Norton pubs, which had they not been modernised or closed would definitely be national gems to seek out, e.g. .Marston St. Lawrence and Lower Boddington. Marstons had several pubs in the north of the county, most memorably the Prince of Wales, Finedon, the Kings Arms, Kettering and the Masons Arms, Twywell (now all closed). Some Charles Wells pubs still retained hand pumps – the Star and the Vivian Arms W’boro’ being fine examples (both recently sadly closed). In Northampton town centre, Davenports was to be found at the Saddlers Arms and in later years with the building of new housing estate pubs both in N’pton and Kettering, both Davenports and Home breweries provided a welcome new selection of beers. Many Working Mens Clubs and CIU affiliated clubs also served real ale (Ruddles Bitter was quite something at the Midland Band Club Kettering) and largely thanks to the work done by the Thompson/Buckby families, Sam Smiths and Everards appeared in many clubs throughout the county. One new brewery did open in 1975, Litchborough, producing Northamptonshire bitter, the first new brewery for many years and the only county brewery for many years to come.

In 1974, one of the first tasks the branch set out to do was to research all of the counties pubs and clubs for the first Real Ale Guide to Northamptonshire. This was published in 1975 and launched at “the Saddlers”. Over the years further editions were produced which served to chart the huge number of changes which have occurred in the county, both to breweries and pubs. The fifth edition was published in 1983 and launched at the Volunteer, W’boro’. All editions sold out. In late 1974, Russ Thomas organised a jazz evening at Brixworth Village Hall, with Charles Wells beers supplied by Bill Sternberg, landlord of The George. Our first true beer festival was held in Spring 1975, and was a great success, running out of beer. It was decided that a larger, more central venue was needed, and the festival was moved to Northampton Drill Hall. In 1978 the branch was asked by Northampton council to run a beer festival for the towns Mayfair Festival. This was held in the old Derngate bus Station, but no one had told the branch that since closing to buses, this had been used as a grain store! Many hours were inevitably spent shovelling and sweeping grain to make the venue even remotely suitable. Needing ever larger premises, because of its success, the festival venue then changed to the County Cricket Ground. As well as the main Northampton beer festivals, the branch also ran smaller events throughout the county. For many years it ran the beer tent for the Rushden Calvalcade Steam Rally (it always seemed to rain but the beer sold out!), Also Stoke Goldington Steam Rally, a Civil War Re-enactment event held at Stanford Hall (where beer was ordered with tankards peppered with shot holes!) and most unusually at a convent for Monks Kirby village fete. East Northants branch organised two beer festivals at W’boro’ Drill Hall in 1982 and 1983, one of which was almost cancelled the day before because of heightened security measures due to the N. Ireland situation. Fortunately the army was persuaded to let us go ahead, but it’s perhaps one of the only festivals where everyone was searched on the way in by security dog handlers! We were very fortunate to have as a branch member, Cliff Eales who ran a haulage company and he would pick up beer for us from all over the country.

Many social trips were organised, often using Fred Collins transport with Mick Boyce as driver. Mick also had his own rather “tired” minibus in which he took us all over the country. When he shouted “Everyone out!” we all climbed out of the back door as he drove along, as it struggled up the hills. As well as our own branch socials we also had many joint social evenings with neighbouring CAMRA branches, such as N. Beds, N. Oxon and St. Neots. Skittle and Aunt Sally matches were held and good relationships flourished between branches. Inevitably many breweries were visited, the hospitality in those days being marvellous, with copious amounts of beer and a good spread of food. The ones we can remember are: Mc Mullens, Ruddles (three times – very good food!), Charles Wells (twice at least), Shipstones, Hook Norton, Paines, Davenports, Marstons, Bass, Batemans, Elgoods, Ridleys, Mitchells, Adnams, All Nations. Ma Pardoes, and John Roberts. One trip never to be forgotten was Hardy Hansons brewery, where we were locked in by the brewer, and had to dodge security by leaving through a gap in the railings. Thankfully everyone managed to squeeze through! We visited Worcestershire hop fields many times, starting with breakfast and a beer or two, early in the morning before the farm visit, stopping off at various towns and pubs on the way home. Weekend trips were organised by Barry White, using self drive minibuses, with a rota of drivers spread throughput the weekend. We stayed at Bridgenorth (where someone wandered off on the way back to the B&B, later to be found fallen down a hole in the road), Leeds, Bournemouth, Manchester (a branch couples’ honeymoon with 9 blokes and Barry White’s mum!), Edinburgh (we saw the Pope) and the Isle of Man. Camping trips were held at Henley on Thames and AGMs attended, such as Blackpool 1977, Cardiff 1978 and Reading 1983. When the Courage brewery at Reading was threatened with closure in the early 1980s we joined in a national CAMRA event, “Running Rings ’Round Courage”, with members dressed up as chickens (Dave Pickles said he couldn’t get a cockerel costume), a court jester and various other sundry birds. In 1983 a wake was held at the Volunteer W’boro’, to lament the passing of Worthington Bitter. We also had our own football team but if we remember correctly it only played two matches as it was far too energetic for a Sunday morning!

So this is a glimpse of what Northants CAMRA life was like in the first 10 years. We had an amazing amount of fun but also campaigned tirelessly for “Real ale in every pub”, a situation which CAMRA has now virtually achieved. We like to think we played a part in the resurgence and popularity of real ale in the county. Campaigning now is at a very different level with the involvement of MPs, organising e-petitions, and lobbying Parliament, but we must never forget our grass roots and give up our local campaigning.

Now, who is going to write the next instalment of the history of Northants CAMRA branch and tell us about the following 10 years??

With thanks to Lynne Ellis, a very early member, who provided this article about the first 10 years of our branch on our branch's 40th anniversary, which was published in OTB