CAMRA has been an integral part of my life for more than 20 years – since before I even knew it – and I’m hugely grateful.

I’d been following Blackpool Football Club around the country for several years drinking lager, but my favourite awaydays were always those that were centered around a Good Beer Guide (GBG) pub tour. On a Saturday morning I would meet my friend Chris at Birmingham New Street station, and he would be armed with a map and photocopied pages from the GBG listing the pubs we would be visiting pre-match. Despite me drinking lager in those days, I always enjoyed the diversity of the pubs and the people we met in them whether they were in Doncaster, Peterborough or Cheltenham.

On Boxing Day 2007, in the Bankers Draft in Sheffield (ahead of a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane), a pump clip lured me into buying a spiced Christmas ale and these tours began to take on a whole new dimension. Chris and I hit the GBG pubs of Barnsley ahead of our FA Cup third round match in early January 2008. There was a different winter spiced beer in every pub on the walk and I was hooked, resolving to give up lager for good. The GBG was now a vital companion to lead me to more of these delicious beers.

When I realised my social life (outside of football) was non-existent following the breakdown of my marriage, it was CAMRA’s help I sought. I went along to a Walsall CAMRA meeting to meet people and find out where I could find the best pubs in the area. Once in those pubs, I’d often bump into people I knew through CAMRA. In attending the meetings and socials, I also got to know the area better. And, through my new friends, I found there was a brewery (Highgate) emitting those tantalising aromas I could smell from my flat. I joined Friends of Highgate Brewery and went there bi-monthly for several drinks. Those were the halcyon days. Sadly, the brewery is now long gone.

I’ve always enjoyed writing particularly about my adventures following Blackpool FC. When I found myself unable to attend matches during our five-year boycott, my writing also dried up, with my main source of subject matter unattainable or coming with the threat of being sued. Again, CAMRA was my saviour. I switched my membership to the branch in Birmingham, where I was working at the time and could more easily attend evening meetings, and immersed myself in its social scene, as well as writing articles for the branch magazine. I soon ended up as branch secretary and was pleased to give something back to the organisation that was already helping me so much. I applied my administrative and writing skills to this role, but it also helped me develop in areas where I wasn’t previously so confident. I also surprised myself with my success at selling advertising space in the branch magazine.

CAMRA was also my introduction to beer festivals. I attended Fleetwood and Walsall festivals every year and they were great social occasions, as well as an opportunity to taste different beers. Travelling to festivals with my Birmingham friends, I would come to see more familiar faces at events across the country. I’m now recognised at beer festivals for my writing (which has evolved to become more about beer and less about football). I was even invited to speak at Calderdale Beer Festival in 2022. I’ve never volunteered at a beer festival, after all, festivals need drinkers too, but I like to think that my writing about them helps encourage more people along to support these great events.

Like any family, we’ve had our fallings out. The outcome of CAMRA’s revitalisation vote in 2018 left me disillusioned with the Campaign. I couldn’t comprehend that whether a beer was live or not was deemed so important. If beer tastes good, then I’ll drink it. I don’t give any thought to, nor do I really understand, brewing, fermentation and dispense methods. But it was lockdown that changed my view about this. During those months without pubs, I realised I missed cask ale very much and it was a fluffy pint of mild that I particularly craved. When the pubs finally reopened, I booked a table (outside) at a local real ale pub and couldn’t wait for that first pint. I’d been looking forward to it for months! Imagine my dismay when I was told that there was no real ale on despite this being a brewery-owned pub! It was at this point that I realised how important the Campaign was. I didn’t want to imagine a future without cask ale in pubs.

By now I had moved home to Blackpool, so I sought out my new local branch to help with the Campaign and to help me find the best pubs and make new friends in a town I had left 20 years earlier and really didn’t know any more. Mercifully, the beer shortage was short-lived, indeed the pub scene in Blackpool is now thriving, with new micropubs popping up all over the Fylde coast. I’ve been blogging my adventures exploring the new pub landscape there to try and drive more people to the town’s many wonderful pubs (have you been to Blackpool recently?). After all, if we don’t use them, we’ll lose them, and no-one wants that. Please come and visit.

Now I work in Manchester and I’m discovering that city through its Good Beer Guide pubs. I’ve been building little tours based around these pubs and this is helping me to chart the area. Through doing this, I have met Stockport and South Manchester CAMRA, joining its Mild Magic trail around the city. I've also met Rochdale, Oldham and Bury CAMRA, which I have welcomed to my branch area on its tour of Lytham and St Annes. There is never a shortage of things to talk about with a CAMRA member – our shared love of beer and pubs is an instant conversation starter.

So, what is CAMRA to you?

To me, CAMRA is a family whose members help me feel at home everywhere I go. Thank you for always being there for me for all these years. I’m pleased to be here for you, too.

Jane Stuart is a beer and football tourist who writes about her adventures on her website www.janestuart.co.uk and on Twitter @blackpooljane