The AGM was attended by members from all over the Island and followed a successful year for the branch; during which a committee was formed to make arrangements for the British Isles CAMRA AGM and Members’ Weekend in 2010. Approximately 1000 CAMRA members are expected to travel from all over the British Isles, to the Villa Marina, Douglas, for the three-day event.

Reports from elected members of the branch committee were heard before the election of officers for the next year followed by a series of votes on a number of issues.

A new chairman, Charles Miller, was elected, together with Matin Hazell as vice-chairman, Gareth Colquitt as treasurer and John Wheeler as Secretary, among others.

Charles, a 43-year-old Chartered Surveyor and resident of Peel succeeds the outgoing chair who held the post for a number of years. Charles has paid tribute to his predecessor, in whose care the branch was saved from near closure and increased its membership from 80 to a peak of 120 in 2007.

The AGM at The British resolved to increase communication with members and the people of the Isle of Man. During 2008 the branch website, www.isleofmancamra.com was re-launched by webmaster Graeme Jones, to much praise at the meeting.

Further resolutions were passed on increasing the frequency of branch meetings and social events with Island-wide notification by articles in Isle of Man newspapers and What’s Brewing (the newspaper of CAMRA), together with post-outs, emails and use of the branch website.
Future branch meetings are to be held on a fixed date each month (yet to be decided by the branch committee) and the venue of these meetings will change each time, offering members the opportunity of sampling real ale at a wide variety of Island pubs. It is hoped that a quarterly notification will be published giving details of the next six monthly meetings, together with their venues.

The CAMRA 2010 AGM and Members’ Weekend will be held between 17th and 19th April 2010 with the main conference and fringe meetings at Villa Marina, Douglas. The event is likely to see the largest guest ale bar ever assembled in the Isle of Man.

The weekend is expected to see about 1,000 CAMRA members arrive on the Island. To date, the 2010 committee, under the chairmanship of Graeme Jones, has received tremendous support and advice from the Department of Tourism and Leisure, in preparation for the event together with offers of assistance from both Bushys and Okells breweries and pub landlords.