This time of year, as editor, I would have been putting finishing touches to the Winter edition of CAMRA Angle, the Sunderland & Sth Tyneside branch magazine. Sadly since issue 59 was published just before the lockdown was introduced, it has not been possible to produce any physical magazines.
So instead I have been concentrating on producing more online newsletters ( CAMRA Angle Online) as a substitute, primarily to keep fellow branch members informed , but also for anyone read and download. There has been no shortage of news ! In fact, during the final stages of putting this one together the news was changing on practically a daily basis.
Why ? Well the Government announced Lockdown 2. which included no takeaways allowed from pubs or breweries. A statement was issued by CAMRA which was no hold barred. This statement was added to the newsletter. 24 hours after that statement, the Government reversed their decision, which prompted a new CAMRA response and a hasty reedit of the Angle Online.
A running story in recent months has been that of Small Brewers Relief. This was a review of the amount tax smaller breweries would pay. It was known this was coming and it was hoped that help would be given to those breweries that sit between the big boys and smaller breweries who currently benefit. But no,! What the Treasury actually did was reduce the tax threshold at the lower end, so some of the smaller breweries would end up paying more. A petition was launched and at the time of typing it had over 50000 signatories.
If you haven't already signed and wish to do so please see the link below.
So what else is in the newsletter ? Well there is the usual pub,brewery and membership news, a review of the new 2021 Good Beer Guide, plus some feature articles :- The Lord Nelson pub in Jarrow, visits to three pubs in North Cumbria, and a look back at our old beer festival venue.
To read this issue and more follow this link :-
https://sst.camra.org.uk/wordp
You can either click the link at the top of the page to download onto your device else stream the document online inside the pageframe.
Previous Newsletters can be found from this link:
https://sst.camra.org.uk/wordp
Mentioned in the newsletter:
The link to the Small Brewers Relief petition is:
https://petition.parliament.uk
Brew2You can be accessed here or by downloading the app from the appstore:
You can nominate a "Lockdown Hero" here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/
To organise a "Save your Local" group resources can be found here:
https://camra.org.uk/pubs-and-
Enjoy the read !.................
