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| These webpages are about the “Special” Branch of the SPBW, which in its heyday was an innovative and enthusiastic part of one of the most successful consumer pressure groups in this country. There is a lot more info on the other SPBW Special Branch pages |
| Special Branch Officers
1973-74 Chairman: Mick Kelleher Secretary: Ossie Tillett Treasurer: John O'Connor Assistant Secretary: Rod Dorken (Joe Ross from August) Vice-Chairman: Joe Ross (Ray Prewer from August) 1974-75 Chairman: Mick Kelleher (Ray Prewer from August) Secretary: Ossie Tillett Treasurer: John O'Connor (Ian Thompson from January) Assistant Secretary: Joe Ross (Jim McKay from _August) Vice Chairman: Ray Prewer (Joe Ross from August) Campaigns Mgr: Alec Cormack 1975-76 Chairman: Ossie Tillett Secretary: Ray Prewer Treasurer: Ian Thompson Ass. Secretary Sheila Cormack Vice-Chairman: Joe Ross Campaigns Mger: Jim McKay 1976-77 Chairman: Ossie Tillett Secretary: Jim Curran Treasurer: John O'Connor Assistant Secretary: Joe Ross Vice-Chairman: Sheila Cormack Campaigns Mgr: Mick Kelleher 1977-78 Chairman: John O'Connor Secretary: Jim Curran Treasurer: Tom Blogg Ass. Secretary: Mick Kelleher Vice Chairman: Chris Hall Campaigns Mgr: Joe Ross 1978-79 Chairman: Tom Blogg Secretary: Jim Curran Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass. Secretary: Mick Kelleher Vice Chairman: Steve Chapman Campaigns Mgr: Brian Carey NEC Rep: Roger Jacobson 1979-80 Chairman: Steve Chapman (Bill Wadley from November) Secretary: Jim Curran Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass. Secretary: Roger Jacobson Vice-Chairman: Bill Wadley Phil Knight from November) Campaigns Mgr: Sheila Cormack (Mike Kelleher from October) NEC Rep.: Dan Allen 1980-81 Chairman: Bill Wadley Secretary: Jim Curran Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass. Secretary: Christine Moss Vice-Chairman: Derek Legg Campaigns Mgr: Roger Jacobson 1981-82 Chairman: Mick Kelleher Secretary: Roger Jacobson Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass. Secretary: Christine Moss Vice-Chairman: Steve Mitchell Campaigns Mger: Bill Wadley 1982-83 Chairman: Steve Mitchell Secretary: Roger Jacobson Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass. Secretary: Mike McHugh Vice-Chairman: Phil Knight Campaigns Mgr: Derek Legg 1983-84 Chairman: Mike McHugh Secretary: Roger Jacobson Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass.Secretary: Robert McGowan Vice-Chairman: Bill Wadley Campaigns Mgr: Steve Mitchell 1984-85 Chairman: Roger Jacobson Secretary: Richie Stanley Treasurer: John O'Connor Ass.Secretary: Robert McGowan Vice-Chairman: Colin Donald Campaigns mgr.: Mike McHugh 1985-88 Committee: Roger Jacobson Mike McHugh John O'Connor |
| AN EVENING WITH ISABEL
Special Branch in Chesapeake Bay September 2003 and four members of the reconstituted Special Branch are touring the north east USA in search of the best beer the region can offer. The climax - and, indeed - the highlight of the two week jaunt is the meeting with members of the Chesapeake Bay SPBW chapter in Baltimore. But as we head south east across New York state and Pennsylvania, someone else is coming to meet us - Hurricane Isabel, already threatening the North Carolina coast. We visited a fair number of brewpubs and sampled a good few brews from small and microbrewers on our travels and it would take too long to recount them here - even if I could remember them all. But the night before we hit Baltimore we drunk some of the best brews, at the Lancaster Brewing Company. This is a fairly typical brewpub, largely laid out as a restaurant with the serious imbibing around the bar area. Lancaster is at the heart of the Pennsylvania Amish country and this gives its name to the finest - in our opinion - of the beers on offer: Amish Four Grain. A few weeks on I can’t do much better than to describe it as a golden, hoppy beer, I would guess around 4.5% ABV. The four grains in question are barley, wheat, rye and oats. I do recall that it went downa fair treat and we consumed a good few. Half a dozen or so Lancaster beers were on tap that evening and we had to sample nearly all of them - purely for research purposes you understand - and they proved to be of a uniform high quality. And so, the next morning, to Baltimore. The closer we got to the city the more the wind got up and by the time we reached our downtown hotel the rain was falling heavily. Before leaving England we had made arrangements with Ron Kodlick, President of the Chesapeake Bay chapter, who would be looking after us during our brief stay. As it happened, Ron lived a short distance from where we were staying. Soon after letting him know we were in town, Ron pulled up in front of the hotel in his minivan and drove us back to his home. We sampled a couple of Ron’s fine home brews in the company of his wife Gladys, before he bundled us back in the car. First stop was Max’s on Broadway in the historic Falls Point district. We practised our sprinting with a lightning dash through the rain to the bar. This was a lively and friendly joint with more than 60 beers on tap. We had time just to try a couple of the vast range before Ron - keen to get to the final destination and have a few beers himself - shoved us back into the wind and rain for the ride to Sean Bolan’s in the Federal Hill district. This was the setting for the gathering of the Special and Chesapeake Bay branches. Sean Bolan’s is a smallish, long narrow pub with a restaurant area upstairs. I can’t say too much about the decor since the block had been hit by a power cut, which made for an intimate atmosphere, as the owners rustled up all the candles and torches they could find. It was soon fairly dark though and the mighty wind and heavy rain outside only added to the surreal ambience.About ten or so local SPBW members were in attendance and proved to be the sort of friendly and sociable types you expect in our fine body of people. Generous too - we discovered that we were not expected to put our hands in our pockets, since all our beers were courtesy of Ken Krucenski, proprieter and Chesapeake Bay branch member - thanks Ken! SB’s offered a good range of beers on tap but he focal point for our purposes was the cask set up at one end of the bar and its neighbouring handpump. The cask dispensed Old Dominion Bourbon Cask Stout from Virginia, which tasted much as you might expect: very pleasant but hardly a session ale! The handpumped beer was Stoudt’s American Pale Ale from Adamstown, Pennsylvania, near the aforementioned Lancaster area. We got stuck into these, and the other beers on tap, and spent a very convivial evening with the locals. At one end of the bar was a group of office workers raising toasts to Isabel for keeping them away from work the following day! Some of the Special Branch broke into song as well, reminiscent of the dark days of the blitz! All too soon we had to leave; our departure was hastened when another member made a late arrival by car and was promptly commandeered to drive us back to our hotel! We would have popped into the Wharf Rat brewpub, round the corner from our hotel, but Isabel had evidently forced an early closing. The following day we had to drag ourselves away from Baltimore and back to Philadelphia to fly home (Philly’s not a bad drinking town, but that’s another story). There are a good many worthwhile bars in Baltimore and we barely scratched the surface in our windswept visit. Should you ever be passing this way, do get in touch with the Chesapeake Bay crowd (contact details in the branch directory) - they’re very friendly people and you’re guaranteed a great time, hurricane or not. R.J (with help from Ron Kodlick) |
| THE NEW CONSTITUTION of SPBW SPECIAL BRANCH
• Members will respect the aims and standing orders of the SPBW, namely: 1)To stimulate the brewing and encourage the drinking of traditional draught beer, that is to say, beer drawn directly from the cask by gravity or through a beer engine without the use of gas pressure. 2) To denigrate the brewing and sale of beer termed 'draught' but served otherwise than described above and to denigrate its consumption. 3) To lend support to those brewers who, by their policies, assist in the implementation of the Society's aims. • The branch will have no officials or committee. • Membership of Special Branch is strictly by invitation only. • Official gatherings will be held once a year in an agreed section of the inland waterways network, lasting one week. • During official gatherings, members shall not drink after 11 pm unless specifically encouraged to do so by the pub management. • Members are encouraged to hold unofficial gatherings in recommended pubs or at beer festivals at all other times of the year. • The Navigator will be the official organ of Special Branch and will be published whenever the editors can be bothered. Other news and information about the Branch will be kept on The Navigator website. • There will be no subscriptions. However, contributions to the cost of boat hire for annual gatherings will be bumped up to cover the cost of the affiliation fee to the SPBW, production and postage of The Navigator and other vital expenditure. |
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| Steve Mitchell is pictured in May'07 at the Royal Oak on a trip to Blightly. Steve lives in Thailand. He can be contacted via his hotel website http://www.pineapplephuket.com |
| Hi John , Here is a little SPBW/early navigator re-union picture. Taken at my home in Sweden, Easter 2004. Dave Lloyd was in Sweden visiting one of his son's who has just made him a grandad. We are seen proudly holding the signed list from the first Charity pub walk in August 1974. Dave and I made this walk, or stagger, together.
All the best Tim. |
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| Where are they now ?
If you want to contact us with details of where you are we will be glad to post details here |
| If you have any photos or other articles to add, forward them to Roger Jacobson or John O'Connor who will gladly add them to this website |
| ..... |
| BILL WADLEY RIP
We were all stunned and saddened to hear of Bill’s sudden death on Boxing Day 2006. I (Roger) first met Bill in August 1975 when we were both working at the former MAFF. We shared a number of interests, not the least of which was good beer; Bill soon persuaded me to join CAMRA. I soon latched onto his drinking fraternity (Dave Gee, Big Al, Steve Chapman, Carl Brown, Keith Emmerson etc) and began to visit beer festivals and good pubs in all corners of London and beyond. Some time in 1976 or 77 we began to use the Rose & Crown in Blackfriars regularly on Sunday evenings and here we encountered members of Special Branch. Several of us, including Bill and I joined the branch and Bill was soon volunteered as the branch’s representative at NEC meetings. Bill was Special Branch Chairman 1979 – 81 and held other committee posts as well as being an enthusiastic supporter of branch events. He was a regular winner of the Branch’s Fenton trophy darts contests and a mainstay of the branch’s sports quiz team that performed wonders in the Sunday People’s national knock out competition in the mid-1980s. He was also, for a few years, an enthusiastic Navigator, joining several canal trips. Even a total immersion at Newbold on Avon didn’t put him off! Bill and I consumed ale together in a variety of locations from Southwold to Blind River, Ontario. Many hours were spent in the Rosie where Bill would be happily esconsed on his stool at the end of the bar, chatting with his many friends in the pub. Away from the SPBW Bill was keen on sports, supporting Chelsea FC and Surrey CCC, and once part-owning a couple of greyhounds (one named Kegbuster after Bill Tidy’s cartoon character); up to his death he was a regular punter at Folkestone races for several years. Bill was a keen and accomplished darts player, skippering the Rose & Crown team to league honours in the mid-80s and later captaining a team at the Wheatsheaf, Borough Market. The turn out of old friends for Bill’s funeral in January was a good indication of his popularity; we drank to his memory in the Hope, his former local Youngs pub in West Norwood High Street. Bill’s many friends knew him as a generous, honest and good-humoured individual and we will all miss him. In 2007 there were two Bill Wadley Option Day's, in Maidstone and at the Royal Oak. where his friends got together to drink to his memory and to make sure we don't lose touch with each other. It is hoped that these will be an annual gathering ieach October/November |
| Bill Wadley (1951-2006) |
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| Ron Kirkman went nuts at the Catford Beer festival in 2007, here he is seen about to neck a pint of pistachio nuts |
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| For the website of SPBW (Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood)
cut & paste the link below into your browser (
Geocities does not allow links to other websites
) http://www.spbw.com/ |
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| All,
How could Jake belittle such a magnificent achievement, it takes skill after copious amounts of Young's Bitter working out on the back a Tegestologist's friend (beer mat) how many imperial gallons there are in a US gallon (31). Also would you put your life in your hands when Jake is throwing darts? As it isn't often we win anything, for posterity I have also adjusted Jake's picture by zipping up his flies (so eager to get to bed with the trophy) and removing his drunken redeye leer. I'll leave you with a very sobering thought, 21,000 gallons is the annual amount of beer estimated to be lost in drinkers beards and moustaches in Britain each year pip pip or should I say cheers as I give my beard a suck........... John |
| Special Branch collected 'silverware' last night, winning the prestigious Tony Littler trophy inter-branch competition. Ron, JOC and me (+ guest Paul) were crap at the darts section but made it up on the quiz that followed. Steve might have played but he went to watch Spurs for the first time in 30 years. We now have to organise the next event. Anyway here is me with the trophy before I took it to bed.
cheers Roger (Feb'08) |
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