South East Sussex Branch of CAMRA was formed in 1974 and one of our previous Branch Chairmen, Peter Page-Mitchell, proposed, organised and acted as Master of Ceremonies at a lunchtime celebration event at the White Rock Hotel. Our first pictures show Peter standing at the corner of a table welcoming over 50 past and present members and introducing the guest speaker, John Williams, the founding Chairman.

In an interesting and entertaining talk John described how he and some other like-minded young people advertised a meeting in the Prince Albert pub, Hastings and were amazed to find a room full of real ale enthusiasts and so the branch was formed. He continued to describe the early years of the branch and was given a rousing round of applause at the end.

The event was hosted by Laurence and Catherine, proprietors of the White Rock, who very kindly provided an excellent buffet ‘on the house’, with no charge for the use of the large room. Pictured below, standing to the left of Peter P-M is Laurence, who was also shown our appreciation with prolonged applause.

In return we kept the four handpumps busy throughout the event, one featuring a couple of casks of a celebration ale, ‘CAMRA South East Sussex 50th Anniversary Beer’. This was conceived and brewed by Rother Valley Brewer and a past Branch Chairman, Colin Smith, who was in attendance; it went down extremely well with those present, more applause, and also in the other local pubs which sold it.

The picture above shows a couple of documents being read, copies of our complete record year by year, of all the pubs in our branch area, including the Sub Branch, which have ever appeared in the Good Beer Guide since the first small booklet in 1972, along with a listing of pub and brewery awards, as far back as we have records.

While (above) some found the distractions of the outside world unmissable. There was plenty of time for socialising …

and for going to the bar, especially for the celebration ale as seen here, is that an empty glass I can see?

All in all an excellent and worthwhile event, particular thanks to Peter P-M, as expressed in the usual manner by the participants. Thanks to all who attended and notably to John, Laurence and Colin. In reply to Peter’s thanks to John after the event, John wrote a reply including: ‘I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the welcome. ... It was much appreciated. It was lovely to see the branch in such good health and in such good hands’. Copies of the two documents referred to above can be found in the members’ area of the branch website or by following these links.