A gentle giant is often an overused cliché, but it is absolutely fitting for CAMRA national director Jonathan Kemp, who died suddenly at the end of October.

Jonathan, who was not just an instantly recognisable and well-known figure at a large number of beer festivals across the country, but also a giant intellectually, emotionally, and in his dedication to CAMRA.

Combining his love of beer and travel, he joined CAMRA as a life member in 2003 and was a familiar volunteer at many festivals across the country. He successfully stood for election to the National Executive in 2019 and was returned to serve a second term in April this year. There is no doubt he would have continued to serve as one of our most capable and thoughtful directors and losing Jonathan is a huge blow to our organisation.

Speaking at Jonathan’s funeral in Scotland, CAMRA national chairman Nik Antona said: “Other members have shared their memories of Jonathan with me, and the common thread is how he conducted himself – a combination of intelligence and kindness that made him special.

“He was a man who knew how to listen. In many of our meetings he would pay close attention to the important issues we were discussing, never speak for the sake of it, and only give advice and opinion once he’d carefully considered the information.”

A proud Scot, Jonathan was born in Belshill and spent his early years in Cambuslang, both on the outskirts of Glasgow. He went to school at Glasgow Academy, and then studied law at Glasgow University. After graduating he moved to Aberdeen as a trainee and, once fully qualifyied as a lawyer, joined a small legal practice in Dumfries.

He joined the Crown Prosecution Service and, as his career developed and reputation grew, became a Prosecutor Fiscal, working in various courts including Paisley and Glasgow.

Jonathan was always effective in making sure his home country was represented in CAMRA discussions and was instrumental in supporting our activities and events in Scotland. He stepped in to revive Scottish beer festivals and branches which had become moribund and – in that gentle way he had – persuaded volunteers to get things back up and running. 

As one Scottish CAMRA member remembered: “I think if it had been anyone else, I would have said no. Jonathan used his charm, skills and intelligence to convince me otherwise. 

“If there was anyone up for the job, it was Jonathan, many others helped, but he was the spark and without him we may never have had a festival. The Glasgow Real Ale Festival will stand as a fitting tribute to his hard work.”

It wasn’t just the big stuff that Jonathan cared about. He always showed empathy for others. At a recent Glasgow Real Ale Festival, on discovering there were no taxis available (Ed Sheeran’s fault apparently), and that fellow volunteers were going to have to walk miles home after a busy day at the festival, the similarly exhausted Jonathan was still prepared to jump out of bed to drive them himself.

That empathy saw Jonathan particularly vocal on ensuring our organisation was as inclusive and diverse as possible – particularly when it came to making provision for less abled members. Recently he played an important part in our inclusivity and diversity review, as well as being a driving force behind ensuring our festivals were doing as much as possible to be safe and inviting places for visitors.

Jonathan had his own health issues and disability to cope with, so he was more than aware of the difficulties thoughtlessness can cause and was committed to making sure we considered all our members. It was always the difficulties of others that he highlighted. Jonathan himself was always positive about his own challenges, he never used his condition for an excuse to give anything less than 100 per cent to the Campaign and absolutely refused to let it affect what he wanted to do.

This can be seen by just how many festivals Jonathan was involved in. Despite the need to spend countless hours in cars, trains or planes to travel from Scotland, he tirelessly volunteered at dozens across the country – from the Great British Beer Festival, to much smaller local events.

It’s telling that so many festivals didn’t just view him as a visiting volunteer, but a key part of the event. North Bedfordshire branch, for example, which marked the passing of its “great friend” who for many years had run the continental bar and been the manager for craft and foreign beer.

At school, university and in his 20s, Jonathan was a keen rugby player, playing for Kilmarnock and Cambuslang. Sadly a knee injury forced him to retire from playing, but he maintained his love of the sport as a spectator. He was passionate about the Scottish national team and had a season ticket for Murrayfield.

He combined his love of beer, travel, and rugby in frequent trips to Europe and further afield. His wanderlust started with a teenage interrailing trip to Europe with one of his stepbrothers and continued with visits to numerous European beer festivals over the years. An expert on foreign, as well as British beer, Jonathan had sampled more than 4,000.

Despite his travel schedule, he never let his CAMRA commitments slip often taking time out of his holiday to join meetings online from European hotel rooms.

It was clear that for everything Jonathan gave to CAMRA, he got a great deal back. As a friend of Jonathan said: “While he had his job as a lawyer, I believe he was also looking for something else in his life. He became heavily involved in CAMRA at a national level, which saw him travelling all over the country, I know from being in his company that he was very happy doing this, it lifted his spirits, and he revelled in all the meetings.”

It was clear Jonathan hugely enjoyed the social side of our organisation. The opportunity to meet so many people with similar interests to his. To travel the country and play an important role in so many events which brought so much enjoyment to Jonathan, his fellow volunteers and the tens of thousands of people who came to the festivals he was a part of.

It was also clear how – like many of us – Jonathan found lockdown and being cut off from his CAMRA family difficult. During lockdown he made sure friends and family had regular virtual “pub” gatherings and organised twice weekly Zoom socials.

His delight in being free to travel and socialise again was evident to all his friends in CAMRA, even if it saddens them that his enjoyment was cut short far too soon.

It is thanks to Jonathan that CAMRA will be holding its National Members’ Weekend, AGM and Conference in Dundee in 2024. 

Originally CAMRA’s return to Dundee was due to be a celebration of 50 years of CAMRA in Scotland – but now it will also be a fitting celebration and commemoration of the giant legacy Jonathan leaves behind.