Paul was an active member of the original Branch and it was sad to hear of him passing in October 2024. The following is an appreciation of Paul Frances by his great friend Roy Bailey.
PAUL FRANCES
An appreciation
Paul & I first met 50 years ago, when we both joined the Newbury branch of the newly-formed Campaign for Real Ale, and became good friends, finding that we had shared interests. Paul, with his background in finance, soon became Treasurer and I served with him on the committee. Later on he was kind enough to propose me for branch chairman.
He was an active Treasurer; not only keeping the branch solvent but helping to organise events and working at them. In 1976 Hungerford Round Table asked the branch, via Paul, to organise a beer tent at Littlecote House for a Sealed Knot muster. Not only did he help arrange this and drew up a comprehensive roster of duties, but he spent a good deal of time working behind the bar in hot and dusty conditions. He later organised another beer tent for the Hungerford Carnival Committee and also for the Hungerford Festival.
Later that year he joined a party of us who walked the Ridgeway from Avebury to Goring, and although he could only do the first half because he was working the following day, he turned up at the Catherine Wheel in Goring in time to be photographed with feet up drinking beer.
As well as beer and pubs, Paul was a great supporter of rambling and public transport. Many a time I would mention a particular pub somewhere and he would retort: ‘Yes, you can get the number so-and-so bus there from somewhere-or-another’. He had obviously done it!
When he was Footpaths Secretary of the Hungerford branch of the Ramblers Association and I was Footpaths Officer of Great Shefford Parish Council we co-operated in getting a local footpath diverted back to its original line through a belt of trees and therefore opening up a pleasant walk among bluebells. He was also kind enough to spend some time helping Annabel and me collect apples for my cider-making business, and on one occasion came to help with the pressing in Gloucestershire.
Paul combined his enthusiasm for both beer and rambling by walking one weekend, in the company of two other eccentrics, from The Crown and Horns at East Ilsley to The Swan at Inkpen, visiting as many pubs as possible on the way and picking up as much litter as they could carry. This exercise was known as a CAMRAWomble! He also participated in ‘Running Rings Around Courage’; a protest against the company’s decision to discontinue brewing real ale at the Reading brewery. Knowing Paul, he probably walked!
We attended two CAMRA AGMs together – at Reading and Southampton – when he seconded motions that I had proposed.
Paul worked at Grove and therefore had to pass my house every weekday. He would frequently call in for a chat on a Friday evening, and often complained that the ancient clock on the mantelpiece was showing the wrong time – always genially ignoring the fact that it was stopped! This was typical of his rather dry sense of humour.
After the Newbury branch of CAMRA folded up he remained as the local representative and one of his visits each year was to consult me about the entries for West Berkshire in CAMRA’s annual Good Beer Guide. We would select the 11 based on our personal experience of them – and no one ever complained about our choices.
When the branch was re-formed as West Berkshire in 1986 Paul became an active member, and campaigned successfully with Dan Allen and me to get The Lion in West Street, Newbury, re-built and re-opened. After his previous tenure as Treasurer he naturally took over the auditing of the accounts.
After he retired we tended to lose touch, but following his stroke my wife Annabel and I would occasionally call in at his house, where he was always welcoming.
When I produced a potted history of 40 years of CAMRA locally in 2014, Paul was one of the contributors and wrote: ‘These days my most energetic activity is acting as branch auditor, but I usually manage two or three pints most days!’
I last saw Paul at the Hungerford Club (his favourite venue) a couple of years ago, and for various personal reasons was never able to visit him at his care home at Marlborough. I was saddened to learn of his passing, as I was hoping he would have been able to attend the forthcoming local CAMRA 50th anniversary party at The Lion in December.
He deserved to be there.
ROY BAILEY
A printed excerpt of this article will appear in ‘Your Local’ Spring / Summer 2025