CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) in the Erewash Valley area started in May 1996, when a small group of enthusiastic people who enjoy a drop of real ale and socialising, met with other like-minded people at the Good Beer Guide listed pub 'The Dewdrop' on Station Street in Ilkeston. Their aim was to form the Erewash Valley branch of CAMRA in an area that was largely neglected by the neighbouring CAMRA branches of Nottingham and Derby.

We originated as a sub-branch of Nottingham CAMRA until May 2000 when we decided to try and make it on our own. Since the separation we have gone from strength to strength until we can now boast a branch membership of approximately 350, a steady rise year on year of around 25%, we are also very lucky to enjoy an impressive number of members attending our branch meetings.

 The Erewash Valley 2nd Ilkeston Beer Festival

 Now - I can hear a number of you asking  "Where is Erewash Valley?" - well if you're a canal or boating enthusiast you will probably know, but for those of you who aren't, the easiest explanation would be that the area covered by our branch is about 12 miles from north to south and 6 miles from east to west lying along the valley of the Erewash canal. Please see our branch area page for more details of the towns and villages covered. We recently gained an extension to our branch area by taking on a number of neighbouring villages from Derby branch including Breaston, Draycott, West Hallam and Mapperley.

    We do try to promote our enthusiasm for real ale and to support CAMRA's policies, aims and beliefs as much  as possible during our social events and on our travels to other areas of the Midlands.  We try to organise a wide range of social events whenever possible, including Games evenings to meet other local branches. We also like to venture out of our branch area, either on survey crawls, or to visit local beer festivals. Occasionally we organise mini-bus trips to visit surrounding areas and sometimes travel even further afield in our search for good quality real ale. Whenever we can we also arrange trips using local public transport, either bus or train.

 Please visit our Meetings & Socials page for details of forthcoming real ale events.

 Please see the Committee page for contact details for committee members.