May 1975 was a busy month for CAMRA Stafford and Stone Branch. "Reviewing the first year's progress and electing next year's committee" was the main business at the A.G.M. held at the Railway Inn, Stafford on Thursday 1St May. Paul Mudge became Branch Treasurer, a post he has held ever since.
A fortnight later the Vaults was the venue for "a meeting to test suppon for a CAMRA branch in the Uttoxeter area". The inaugural meeting of the Uttoxeter sub-branch followed in early July. "Anchors Away" was a festival organised by the branch at the Anchor, High Offley on the May Bank Holiday to help "launch this idyllic canal-side retreat as a full-time pub (at present it is weekends only)". 108 gallons of real ale were stillaged in a marquee and other attractions included folk music, a yard of ale contest and a tug of war across the canal! For the "Maritime Dip" branch activist Geoff Benton wore his Wet suit and retrieved bottles of beer (located by floating cork and string) from the canal bed.

"BASS CRISIS" was the main headline in the April 1980 edition Qf Pints of View, the local CAMRA newsletter. The first sentence explained that "CAMRA Stafford and Stone faces the biggest threat to real ale since the inception of the Branch".
Bass owned 46% of the pubs in Central Staffordshire. Although 76% of these served real ale, the percentage was declining. Bass reps were encouraging landlords to remove handpumps and replace them with electric dispense. It was feared that blanket pressure carbon dioxide would be used with the new electric pumps. Also, with the electric dispensers (except for Draught Bass) being identical to the keg dispensers "it is only a small step (invisible to the customer) to change from real to keg dispense".
Keg Springfield Bitter had already started to replace the real version in some local pubs.
With the recent loss of Joules Bitter, many pubs "in the North of our area" had found Springfield "too sweet" and opted for Worthington Bitter instead. Some had however taken keg Worthington Bitter, having not realised that a real version existed.
Similarly Bass made "no attempt to promote cask conditioned mild" and this contributed to the loss of real M&B.Mild from the last two outlets in Stafford. Draught Bass was also "under threat" as it was known that Bass weren't committed to the Burton Union System which gave the beer its unique flavour.
M&B, another part of the Bass empire, had stated "that their policy is now to replace real ale by keg or tank, wherever possible".