John Merriman retires from the Chair

All those who know him, including active members of CAMRA, licensees across the Branch, and fellow drinkers across the Branch, will be sorry to see John Merriman step down as Chairman of the Branch. He has led the Branch forward for three years, bringing in innovation and change, and leading the quest for real ale by example. Under his leadership the Branch Meetings have flourished, three Branch Beer Festivals have been held in Banbury, the monitoring of pubs has become a fine art under a ‘cluster’ system and with regular assessment by members, and the print-run of ‘Beer on Tap’ has grown to 4,000 copies per issue. On top of that, the membership has increased to a healthy 250 members. John’s great quality has been to devote himself fully to the job in hand, and he has driven the huge changes in the Branch with great zeal. He stepped down at the recent Annual General Meeting.

In the new spirit of CAMRA, with a female National Chairman voted in this year, we now have a female Chairman, Jackie Parker, for the North Oxfordshire Branch. It is also good news that John Merriman will be supporting Jackie in his new role as Vice-Chairman.

 Other members of the Committee are:

Secretary: Vivien Williams

Treasurer: Andrew Patterson

Newsletter Editor and Branch Contact: Geoff Clifford

Membership Secretary: Glen Stowe

Social Secretary and BLO: Geoff Day

BLO: Paul Worth