There was a book I used to get from the library when I lived in england as a child in the 80's it was about a pirate and his parrot and one of them was called big eric. Does anyone know the title/author of this book? I have been in touch with the library and they had no idea

Sounds suspiciously like "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson. He had a pirate in it called Long John Silver who had a parrot that he carried everywhere with him.