After Derek’s wife Sheila died
he carried on living in their house in Kendal but, to a degree, he
withdrew into himself, although he was always ready to communicate
with his small circle of musical friends. Communication wasn’t
always easy though, since Derek relied on good old fashioned pen and
ink or the telephone and he shunned the digital world.
Meanwhile Brian Bull (who knew
Derek through Imperial College Folk Club in the 60’s) decided in
January 2015 to try and track down his old friend. He had not seen
Derek since 1965 but had recently renewed acquaintance with several
old college friends from that era through the magic of the internet
and was thus inspired to try and find Derek too. A search on the net
soon led to Mike Cooper’s website and Brian contacted Mike who then
forwarded Brian’s contact details to Derek. To Brian’s
astonishment, he soon received a phone call from Derek. Brian
recalls:
Derek rang me out of the blue
just as I was about to go out. I could hardly believe it. His voice
sounded exactly the same as I remembered; I could have been talking
to that young man I knew in the early 60’s. We had a long chat and
then corresponded several times. It was a huge pleasure to renew our
acquaintance and I must say Derek seemed pleased too. I sent him a
couple of CDs I had made and he sent me a tape of the kind of stuff
he was into nowadays; jazz style pop songs of the twenties and
thirties which he played superbly. He told me it wasn’t easy to
play sometimes, since he was greatly troubled with arthritis in his
hands.
My wife and I had a holiday
booked in Arnside (Cumbria) in November so I took the opportunity to
arrange a visit to Derek’s house in nearby Kendal. Derek was very
welcoming and we had a great conversation about music and old times
and he filled me in to some extent on his life since we last met.
I was surprised how chatty he
was since, back in the 60’s, he was always quite taciturn. That
didn’t worry me at the time; I just thought he was cool. He soon
shared with me the reason he was so quiet...in those days he had
struggled with a terrible stammer and so avoided speaking if he
could. He hid it well because neither I, nor any of my friends, were
aware of it, despite being in his company dozens of times. I don’t
know how or when he overcame it but during this and several
subsequent meetings and phone calls there was no trace of it. He
chatted freely and fluently for hours at a time.
Derek also shared that he
suffered from a bipolar condition which was only diagnosed later in
his life. During his younger days it was both a blessing and a curse.
He felt that it was the bipolar condition which enabled him to
practice for hours on end and to achieve a high standard in a short
space of time.
We had a pleasant lunch in the
local pub followed by an afternoon back at Derek’s house playing
and singing. It was wonderful to hear him sing some of the old
favourites from I.C. days as well as some I’d never heard him do
before. I particularly remember him getting out his banjo, a
beautiful instrument, and playing and singing a superb version of
‘The Cuckoo’. After that we repeated the exercise each time I
went up to Cumbria. It was such a pleasure to renew acquaintance and
to share our love of music.
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Derek playing
Brian Bull’s Martin HD28 during one of their re-union sessions at
Derek’s house in Kendal, probably November 2017.
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In 2019 I rang Derek to say
that my wife and I wouldn’t be coming up to Cumbria as we normally
did in November because we had both been very ill and were recovering
only slowly. Derek replied that he too had been ill and was still
under the doctor and had an appointment in a couple of days’ time.
A few days later he was dead. I received an e-mail from Rick Stokes
informing me of Derek’s passing. It was a shock and a terrible
disappointment to realise that we would never again be able to meet
up and share our music but, on the other hand, what a privilege to
have known him and to have been inspired by him when I first started
out on my own musical journey.
Thanks a million Derek.
(Brian Bull)