The Derby 9 Go To The Costa del Sol

Following on from the Derby 9's adventures in Paris and the Pyrenees, Mark Bishop's latest book in the series sees the nine printers from the Trader Group of Newspapers
pack their buckets, spades and sombreros and jet off to sunny Spain, to the ever popular Costa del Sol which boasts 300 days of sunshine a year. The reason? They have won The Trader Group Employees of The Year Award.
The year is now 1983. These Derby County die-hard fans love nothing better than following their beloved 'Rams, both home and away- even though their team has now dropped down into the old Division 2. But as it's summer and the new football season is a good month away, the Derby 9 accept their award with gusto and can't wait to pack their suitcases. As usual, 'things' quickly start to happen when they set foot on foreign soil. Instead of spending their first night in their five-star luxury hotel on the Torremolinos sea-front, the Derby 9 end up behind bars in a police cell- for not having enough money to pay the bar bill! And on the next day, one of the lads is almost arrested again for 'skinny dipping' in the sea in broad daylight! And then an even bigger suprise.....all the Trader Group 'Ad girls' (all 322 of them) arrive unannounced to spend the rest of the week with the Derby 9- along with the Trader Group owner, millionairess Mrs Hanley and her four directors, Bruce Hallyday, Judy Morgan, Graham Treadwhite and Richard Johnson. Mrs Hanley had impulsively wanted to reward 'her girls.' So what better than to hire a private plane and also have a break on the Costa- just down the road in Torremolinos from the Derby 9, in another five-star hotel. What follows is more fun and mayhem and a go-kart competition amongst the 300 plus Trader staff, where a few eyebrows are certainly raised when the winners take the podium! With the Trader Ad girls showing the way on the disco dance floor to the sound of some classic early 80s New Wave British tunes, as well as a steak sandwich and chocolate cake eating contest, there's never a dull moment, as you can imagine, on this Costa del Sol experience for the Trader Group gang. Mark Bishop draws on a year and half's worth of experience of living and working on the Costa del Sol to expertly capture the heartbeat of the region and the character of the wide variety of people who still flock to one of Europe's most popular holiday destinations- which still regularly attracts around 13 million tourists a year.
Fasten your seat belts for another cracking read!