Derrill has just got back from a 5 day tour of the NW and on his travels which included delivering cases of Monster Mash in a bottle to Loony Party members — Mark Beech in Walsall and Tony Davies in Blackpool together with 8 other people in the NW who had all ordered at least one case.
One of Derrill’s last port of calls on this NW trip was Morecambe where he stayed with a former customer of Howling’s — Mike “Geordie” Carlin who had stayed several times at the Dog and Partridge in Yateley when Howling was mine host. Geordie Mike said that Howling’s ” Full English ” was legendary but unfortunately had nothing to do with breakfast.
Derrill was also introduced to Morecambe’s most famous local resident and one of the outstanding comedians of our lifetime on Morecambe Promenade overlooking Morecambe Bay with outstounding views of the Lake District in the background.
Derrill took the opportunity to introduce Eric to Co-ALE-ition i.e. Monster Mash in a bottle and would no doubt have asked Eric “what do you think of it so far?”. Eric would perhaps have responded with his famous “Wahey” and then would probably have broken into song with a line or two of “Bring Me Sunshine” reflecting that Monster Mash was the perfect golden ale on a glorious late summer’s afternoon. Hard to believe it is 30 years ago (May 1984) since Eric Morecambe died especially as this was only a year after the first ever OMRLP candidates stood at a General Election.