The funeral was very upbeat for such an occasion with a video of Bill singing and the mourners joining in his rendition of “Sweet Caroline” (was he related to Bugsy?). We met Bill’s daughters, both chips off the family block - and his younger brother - and raised a glass to Bill after the service at the Duke’s Head - a pub just a few hundred yards from the Rose & Crown where we all drank with Staggie in the old days.
At the wake afterwards Roger and I had the pleasure of meeting some old-Pros, two very nice fellows; Steve and Frank and talked about the good old days and what a nice fellow Bill was. He really was.
Bill departed rather young I’d say.
I had been thinking in recent times that it would be good to have had a Promotor reunion - but so many have fallen in the last couple of years. Maybe too late now.
A fond farewell to Richard “Bill” Phillips