Lawrence Smallwood was the face of community music in Great Wyrley for many years. He conducted the Great Wyrley High School Band and was the Musical Director of the Great Wyrley Operatic Society. Lawrence also performed with St. Mark's music group and was a prolific composer of both sacred and secluar songs.
In fact, Lawrence was not the founder of the High School Band. Terry McGrath, Head of Art at the school, founded the band in the late 1960's. The original band was a Brass Band consisting of instruments donated by the colliery band that folded several years earlier. Lawrence was appointed to the music department at the school in 1971 and soon formed a partnership with Terry, working closely to build the band up from its small beginnings. Lawrence and Terry remained good friends until Lawrence's death, sharing their passion for music and vintage cars.
The band continued to grow through the 1970's and, under Lawrence's leadership, developed from a 10-man Brass Band into a full Concert Wind Band. The band started to accept local engagements and it is during this time that the band formed its close links with, the then, Chase Orpheus Male Voice Choir. The band and the choir worked together on many occasions and many thousands of pounds were raised for both local and national charities.
The 1980's saw the band go from strength to strength. Associations were forged with the local authorities and the police force and regular gigs included; Civic Services, Chartity Events, Village Fetes and the Annual Charity Weekend at Weston Park. Perhaps Lawrence's greatest "band achievement" was the performance at the National Festival of Music for Youth at the Royal Festival Hall. The school band represented the County, beating the Cannock and County Wind Bands in competition to get there. The highly commended adjudication that the band received was a fantastic achievemnet and one that Lawrence often reminisced about. In the last few years of Lawrence's reign as Head of Music at GWHS the band appeared before Her Majesty the Queen in Hyde Park, entertained Princess Diana during her visit to Great Wyrley and engaged upon a "World Tour" (in the Mosel region of Germany!). Lawrence, through the band, enriched the lives of hundreds of young performers and thousands of audience members. Many students who played in the School Band during the 1980's have remained close friends and several of us perform today with the Great Wyrley Community Band.
Many people knew Lawrence as the Musical Director of the Great Wyrley Operatic Society. For many years the Society performed Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, but in his last year as Head of Music Lawrence broke away from tradition with a production of the musical My Fair Lady. It was a brave move away from the established format and it was the production of which Lawrence was most proud.
Lawrence left the teaching profession in the late 1980's to follow his dream of establishing a walking holiday company based in Switzerland. Despite his busy business schedule Lawrence found time to compose an amazing number of sacred and secular songs, many of which were performed in public and used in religious celebration at St. Marks Church in Great Wyrley. A CD of songs was produced to raise money for Children In Need with Lawrence providing both keyboard and vocal performances. Lawrence continued to perform with St. Marks Music Group and, in later years, he blew the dust off his Cello to perform with the Stafford Symphonia.
In December 1999 Lawrence and Vaughan Smith put together a Wind Band to perform at St. Marks "Carols & Roast", a gig traditionally associated with the GWHS band. Many players had not played for a number of years but the evening was deemed a great success. In January of the following year the Great Wyrley Community Band was subsequently founded, under the Directorship of Lawrence and Vaughan. In 2001, Lawrence's health started to deteriorate and he decided to take a "back-seat" role in the band; first as 3rd Euphonium and then as a non-playing musical advisor. Eventually, however, Lawrence felt unable to play an active role within the band and resigned his position in early 2002.
During his final months Lawrence continued to compose songs, scribe arrangements and investigate harmony. When these tasks proved too strenuous he devoted hours to the study of the works of Beethoven and Mozart. Remarkably, Lawrence even started to listen to more contemporary works (he often said that, with the exception of The Beatles, nothing decent had been composed since the death of Beethoven!).
Unfortunately, Lawrence's health continued to deteriorate and he passed away on October 7th 2002. Lawrence made a huge contribution to our community, provided musical entertainment and education to hundreds and delivered it with style. He will be remembered as a gifted muscian, remarkable teacher, unique personality and above all a very good friend.
The "Smallwood" connection continues today with Lawrence's Daughter Catherine playing Clarinet, she is currently studying at University, and his Son George playing Trumpet, who has only recently left the area to join the RAF.
The above is an extract from the Memorial Concert Programme (Saturday 3rd May 2003)
written by Gavin Hood - Head of Music, GWHS.