With voters heading to the polls on 7th May, now is the perfect time to ensure pubs and real ale are priorities for the next Government. CAMRA has now launched its General Election campaign and has produced a Manifesto for Pubs and Real Ale.

So far more than 570 candidates have pledged to:

• Support well-run community pubs
• Promote Britain’s 1,300 breweries
• Represent pub-goers and beer drinkers

CAMRA’s goal is to improve on the 670 candidates who supported us before the 2010 General Election.

The 2015 AGM of the Durham Branch of CAMRA is to be held on Tuesday April 14th at The Ship Inn in Middlestone Village, DL14 8AB (https://goo.gl/maps/AWg9p) Starting at 19:30 the AGM will receive reports from the outgoing Branch Committee, debate and vote on any Motions received, and elect the new Branch Committee to serve until the next Branch AGM in April 2016. The AGM is open to all CAMRA members; just ensure you have your current membership card with you.

CAMRA applauds beer duty hat-trick as tax on a pint falls for a third time "CAMRA is delighted with today's hat-trick of an unprecedented third consecutive cut in beer tax, with another penny off a pint, which will be welcomed by millions of beer-drinkers across the country. The last two cuts have already had a huge impact, saving over 1,000 pubs from closure and keeping the price of a pub pint down.

As part of CAMRA's campaign to encourage more people to try a range of real ales, cider and perries, members are being encouraged to try a real cider or perry in May and to help support British orchards. May is a time when the apple and pear trees in our orchards are in blossom and, without the orchards and tree blossom, we wouldn't have the fruit to make the ciders and perries that are on offer throughout the year.

Thanks to all Durham CAMRA members for taking part in the recent poll for branch pubs and club of the year for 2015. The votes have now been counted and validated and you can see the winners and runners-up listed on the Awards pages. Congratulations to those and all the others who received votes in very competitive and closely run contests.