Tony Cunnane's Early Years 1935-53

We moved to Higher Broughton, Salford, on Wednesday 19 April 1950 and a week later, once the Easter hols were over, I started at Salford Grammar School. That's me on the right in my new SGS uniform. If you click on that image you will see that either my new blazer was already too small for me, or my arms were incredibly long!

After my lazy and less than blissful years at Roundhay GS, Leeds, I immediately settled in at SGS - I was in Form 3A again. When I arrived I still had not the slightest idea what I wanted to do as a career. I didn't know it for a few weeks, but it was then that my aspirations to a career in music really started to take off. For the first time my school timetable included ‘proper’ music lessons – one double period per week. The teacher was a Mr Taylor. I see from my diaries that his nickname was ‘Tink’ – presumably because he tinkled the ivories for the hymns at the morning assembly. Every Friday immediately after morning assembly he used to give the whole school a short recital of up to 10 minutes. I remember him as a really good pianist. Most of the boys found the recitals very boring but at least they put off the start of lessons for a few more minutes. I, and a few other music fans, found the recitals most enjoyable and Mr Taylor quickly cottoned on to my interest.

On 9 May I reported in my diary that it was 'the second day of the Parfitt incident.' Chris Parfitt was a rather strange youth who was prone to do odd things in class, presumably to draw attention to himself. On this occasion he was sent home, by the Head Master no less, to change his tie. As I recall the incident the unacceptable tie was no wider than thick string. Parfitt returned about an hour later wearing his school tie. (Chris is the extreme right of the back row of the school photograph; I am third from the right hand end of the back row. If you read this page Chris, perhaps please get in touch and tell me what the Parfitt incident was!)

I started spending at least an hour most evenings practising my violin - still self taught with no supervised lessons, more than four years after the violin had been given to me back in 1946. I joined the School Orchestra in May 1950 and played with the first violins. We were not very good but I was by no means the worst violin player! On 19 May 1950 my diary records that 'Mr Huddart came to school just to listen to me playing'. I can only imagine that Tink Taylor must have arranged this. I seem to recall that Mr Huddart played in the Halle Orchestra at the time. Thereafter Mr Huddart gave me an occasional free violin lesson at school after I had had to tell him that my parents could not afford to pay for any lessons. I was very grateful for these occasional lessons but embarrassed: I have never liked accepting what I considered to be charity.

On 23 May we, the school orchestra, started playing a new piece: March by Charles Johnson. I noted in my diary that it was 'quite a nice tune but fiddling to play'. I think the pun was unintentional! Out of interest I looked Charles Johnson up on the Internet. The only likely candidate I could find was an American, who died 28 December 1950.