Chets in the 1950's
Son of an Oldham cotton spinner, I was delivered, aged ten in September 1950, to Chetham's Hospital School - a blackened, soot-smudged, war-knocked cross between a barracks and a monastery above the stinking Irwell. Cold reveille was at 6.30am, path-sweeping by torchlight at 6.50, orchestra practice at 7.10, hand and knee inspection and breakfast at 8, choir practice at 8.50 and school, with its secondary modern curriculum, from 9.15. Readers of Mrs. G. Linnaus Banks' 19th century classic "The Manchester Man" would have recognised a direct line of descent. That I could leave eight years later with licentiate piano skills, viola NYO membership, a decent crop of 'O' and 'A' levels and a choral scholarship to read English at St. John's College Cambridge was some measure of what happened at Chets during the glum fifties.
The Changeover Years 1969-1974
The change to the school of music was seismic, understandable really as the 300 years prior to the transition to a mixed music school, Chetham's was a well respected boys' grammar school.
Chetham's 1974-1992
In 1974, the name over the archway was 'Chetham's Hospital School of Music'. The word 'Hospital' registered the proud bluecoat tradition of the 'forty poor boys' of the founder's will. But an extraordinary transition had begun. There were 109 girls in what had been a boys' school since 1653. They had been admitted on the basis of musical giftedness and needed specialised curriculum and tuition. And they came from all over the country, and so needed boarding accommodation and resident pastoral care. Some of the boys - those admitted since 1969 - were also boarders and specialist musicians. But many were local day-boys, proud to be part of the old Chetham's: they had come to the school for a conventional day-school pattern of work and sport. Conflicting needs and expectations demanded to be met.
Music Outside the Concert Hall
Music Outside the Concert Hall was set up in 1990, inspired by an earlier project pairing profoundly deaf students with partners from Chetham's. They worked on short compositions within the perception-ranges of the profoundly deaf partners. Both groups found this experience enormously rewarding. Further inspiration came from Peter Renshaw who emphasised the need for adaptable musicians who can communicate well with audiences in a varying range of situations. Much help was provided by Isabel Farrell, the then North West organiser of Live Music Now!
Class Teaching at Chetham’s
I was invited to join the staff of Chetham's in 1975 after a period of study in Hungary. I stayed for 30 years. To stay quite so long had not been my original intention, of course. Events and circumstances determine these things; and besides, I’ve loved almost every minute! When I first arrived, I was shown to Room 3.20 by the Headmaster, John Vallins. It seemed rather dusty and dirty and not very welcoming. It also seemed to be far removed from the other teaching rooms on the floors below. However, I came to appreciate its isolation more and more as the years passed and it became the centre of operations in my teaching life. Its views over Salford Car Park and the noise of traffic on Deansgate below are not to everyone’s taste; but for me the room seemed to open out onto the world outside and was not at all claustrophobic like so many others. Even as I write, I miss it!
Piano Teaching at Chetham's
I can remember the excitement of walking through the archway of that magnificent gate, into the gravelled yard, a very different picture from today. It was quite special. As I had been around the music scene of Manchester for so long, everything had been leading up to this moment - my first day as a teacher at Chetham’s.
A Deputy Head's View
I first went to Chetham's for an interview with Harry Vickers in 1973. When I failed to get the job I spent 2 years at a comprehensive school in Oldham before trying again. John Vallins was a bit more perceptive and I eventually arrived at Chetham’s in September 1975. There was a staff meeting on the Monday before term started on the Tuesday. New staff were introduced: John Cleaver from Gordonstoun, Peter Hatfield from Hungary via the Skinners' Company School, and Glyn Jones from a comprehensive in Oldham. Not the most auspicious start, but the only way was up. Looking around, there seemed to be a number of staff who appeared to have been at the School since it was founded in 1653. Having to teach girls was a shock to their system.
