The late George Best. A friend of the F&DLHS

A sad farewell to George Best, a supporter of the efforts of the Foxearth and District Local History Society, amongst his other great virtues.

When we launched our first book, 'Foxearth Brew' we were wondering how to come up with a gimmick that would help launch the book. As it was about brewing and beer, both subjects close to his heart, we had the temerity to ask George Best to sign the first two hundred copies of the book

To our astonishment, he agreed to do so and so the first two hundred people who bought the book had a copy signed by George Best.

George Best's support and encouragement to us were a great morale boost at a time when we were struggling with the logistics of our first book publication. I'm sure that his signature helped see books, and it certainly gave us a great deal of publicity that we wouldn't otherwise have had.

The other day, a box of the most excellent book 'Foxearth Brew', turned up. However, it turned out, sadly, not to be one of the batch signed by our late friend. They have all been sold.

Now, with the post-mortem wave of adulation of the memory of the great footballer in full swing, it is without doubt that those people who dipped into their pockets to support our efforts have now been rewarded many times over. Their books are doubtless on every footballers christmas-present list.