WHS - Barry Salmon

Thank you Tim & Katharine for awarding me the honour of participating in this ceremony.

It is moving to see so many here today to say Goodbye to Barry - but not surprising: he left an indelible mark of love on so many.

I was at WHS when Barry first arrived. Merlin Channon had done great things and the school already had something of a reputation for the quality of its artistic productions, so we all wondered how a successor could possibly match up. Little did we know ....!

“Nobody’s perfect.” as the saying goes, but I have been struggling to justify the Truth of this proverbette when it comes to Barry. During the three years that we overlapped at WHS with him as my music teacher, conductor and mentor in numerous musical activities I honestly can’t think of anything I saw or heard that he could have done or said that could possibly have been improved in any way - either as teacher or human.

His musicianship was unparalleled; his enthusiasm, encouragement and patience were boundless and his achievements stunning. Some of the sounds we made must have made him wince inside, but you would never have known it; I can’t recall a single cross word, scowl or even a frown - a mild raising of the eyebrows and a:
“Let’s try that again, shall we?” perhaps! He was not one of those teachers of whom one might whisper to a friend on arriving late at some musical gathering: "Is he in a good mood today?" He was ALWAYS in a good mood, ALWAYS positive.

For a relatively small school the concerts and operas we put on were truly remarkable. As a practising teacher myself in various schools since 1972, I have been very often involved in music and drama, but nothing ever remotely compared to what we did and experienced at Woolverstone. When I left WHS, I told myself that I would never again be in such a hotbed centre of teamwork and artistic achievement - and I was right. I can only speak with some authority of my own time there, but I am quite sure the same standard was maintained throughout his tenure.

He didn't do it all on his own of course; he had great colleagues and boys helping him, but I think one can say that without him it just would not have been the same - or such fun. The hours I spent in the orchestra with Barry waving his baton at me are among my most treasured memories. I was not what one would call a musician as such, but as others have said, he was as committed to non-musicians giving it a go as to the most accomplished. He had of course joined a tradition already established by Merlin Channon, Leslie Johnstone, Patrick Hutton and others (including the collaboration with local girls’ schools which I never heard any of us complain about!), and he built on this to achieve the astonishing excellence that we know.

A few of us had dinner with Dick Woollett (also in our thoughts and prayers) in the early 2000s and in conversation he happened to say that Barry was someone who could have excelled in any musical field or place. True enough, but Barry eschewed national fame and fortune and devoted the best part of three decades to our school, which he clearly loved as we did. He must have been heartbroken when WHS was closed, and he sent me a huge pack of press-cuttings recording the last few years of the struggle to keep open the school he had dedicated his professional life to. We were very lucky - and privileged - and I hope we did enough to deserve him.

There are some people one meets for whom one feels it was almost worth being born just to enjoy their human qualities and friendship, and Barry was one such. His passing leaves a hole in the heart, but the memories and his spirit will be with us forever.

I’d like to finish with a short prayer: “Dear Lord, thank you for giving us this beautiful human. Amen."