Cheers! Ale lovers mark 30th anniversary milestone with a pint - or several!

Rotherham’s branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) celebrated turning 30 at a special meeting at the Bridge Inn.

Pubs campaign co-ordinator Paul Redfern related the group’s history and regional director Kevin Keaveney,proposed a toast to the branch.

There was also an award made to Ossett Brewery, which had won the best session, golden or pale beer prize at Rotherham Real Ale & Music Festival in February for its prize brew, White Rat.

Rotherham CAMRA has grown from around 50 members at its first meeting — also held at the Bridge Inn — in 1993 to more than 800.

Its foundation stemmed from a meeting in July 1992 by then landlord Eddie Walsham.

Many Rotherham area members were part of the Sheffield branch at the time and and several were unhappy with the logistical problems of attending meetings and social events in the Sheffield area and the selection of Rotherham area pubs for the Good Beer Guide.

The first Rotherham Oakwood Real Ale & Music Festival took place in January to raise funds for Oakwood School and the steering committee formed in July ran a stall at the event to promote the forthcoming formation of the new branch.

A real ale newsletter, Rotherham Ale, was available at the festival and in a few pubs and the branch officially launched in April 1993.

The group became more involved in the Oakwood Festival over the years, which eventually transformed into the Magna festival, launched in 2011.

A fifth anniversary celebration took place at the Waverley in Catcliffe in 1998, for which a special beer was brewed by Tomlinsons of Pontefract called Chantry Celebration — there was no brewery in the Rotherham district at that time.

However, the Wentworth Brewery started in 1999 and they brewed a special beer for the tenth anniversary party at the Bridge Inn in 2003.

The Bridge was also chosen for the 20th anniversary event in 2013 and a special brew was produced by Chantry Brewery, which had launched the year before.

Over the years, Rotherham CAMRA has helped to found festivals at Swinton Comprehensive School and Wath Rugby Club and set up its own CAMRA festival in 2012 with the foundation of the  New York Beer Festival at the New York Stadium.

Mr Redfern said the grop had held joint events with other branches and competed with the Barnsley branch at crown green bowling, croquet, table tennis, darts, pool, cricket, duck racing, bowling, welly wanging and Jenga, with the Wentworth Cup up for grabs.

He added: “The branch has done its fair share of campaigning — as well as the support and organising of beer festivals, it has organised regular pub survey crawls for the Good Beer Guide and supported national CAMRA initiatives such as Mild in May and Community Pubs Month.”