Two pieces of bad news

Fred's Special Award

In the last few days, I've heard two pieces of bad news.

Fred Hook, the business partner of Gail (the licensee of my local, the Guest House in Southport), and known as a bit of a character, died at the weekend; he was in his early 80s. While Gail nowadays is responsible for the day-to-day running of the pub, she and Fred have run pubs together for decades. In 2013, Fred was given a special award by the local CAMRA branch for 50 years in the licensing trade. I remember once during the weekly pub quiz, some lads were shouting out answers. I watched Fred walk over to them and simply say: "This is the easiest pub in Southport to get barred from." They duly shut up.

My sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues.

Mike in front of the now-closed
Tetley's brewery in Leeds

Mike Perkins, a stalwart of the local CAMRA branch and a genuinely nice bloke, was knocked down last week by a car near the Richmond pub in Scarisbrick New Road, Southport. He is seriously injured in hospital with several broken bones and I expect it will be months before we see him out and about again. The branch is having reallocate all the many tasks he does for CAMRA (even I have called in to take over our CAMRA column in the local paper).

My best wishes to Mike for a speedy and successful recovery.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.