In 1954, Lawnswood High School celebrated its Centenary.

Although the school had only been at the Ring Road location since 1931, it's roots went back to the school founded in 1854 by The Leeds Mechanics' Institution. Have a look at Maggie Cobbett's wonderfully readable story of Lawnswood High School on the History Of The School page.

The main celebrations began on Thursday 22nd July with a Thanksgiving Service in Leeds Parish Church. That evening, a celebration dinner took place in the school. The following day (Friday 23rd) an Open Day was held, swiftly followed by an Old Girls’ reunion in the evening. On Saturday 24th, Leeds Town Hall was the venue for the Centenary Speech Day in the afternoon, and the Centenary Concert in the evening. The full story can be read in the Centenary ‘Review of Events’ brochure (see below).

Saturday 24th July 1954 saw the first ever performance of our school song, ‘Shadowy The Throng’, written for the Centenary by Mrs. Dove and Miss Clayton. See the words and hear a performance on ‘The School Song’ page.

There was another composition for the Centenary. This was a piece called “Music” by Edwin Smith, father of Susan Smith, a pupil at the time. Mr. Smith dedicated his work to Miss Clayton and the choir. It was first performed in Leeds Town Hall, along with the school song and other works during the Centenary celebrations.

Amazingly, some audio recording survives of the Centenary Concert on the evening of the 24th July 1954. The concert was recorded on Miss Clayton’s home tape recorder, with a mic placed on or near the stage. The concert filled four tapes, but only parts two and three survive. The two surviving tapes cover the part of the concert from the three ‘SOLOS by Elsie Suddaby’, up to and including the senior choir’s rendition of ‘Music’, the piece which was composed for the celebrations by Edwin Smith. See the concert programme (below) for more details. The quality is very poor — virtually unlistenable — but if anyone would like a copy please get in touch.

During 1954, some of the school's musical output was recorded by the BBC for the “Children Singing” series. It’s fanciful to think that anyone may have a recording from these programmes, but if you have, or if you have any memories or anecdotes - please get in touch. Click on lhs.alumnae@gmail.com

Thanks to Irene Furze, the programmes for both the Thanksgiving Service and the Centenary Concert are available. Click on the links below.

Later in the year (October the 19th to be exact) a more ‘typical’ Speech Day and Prize Giving took place in the school. I’m grateful to Margaret Yewdall for supplying the programme. Click here to see it.

Thanks to Catherine MacDonald, we also have the 1954 booklet reviewing the Centenary events in words and pictures. This is a sixteen-page pamphlet on four web pages covering the three days of celebrations in July 1954. It’s quite amazing how much the school packed into those three days! On the final page of the booklet you’ll see that the school had a ‘fair’ in November 1953. During the course of three-and-a-half hours, they took £452.10s.5d (£452.52p). In today’s money, that’s a staggering £7,386.50!

At the time of the Centenary, a souvenir brochure was produced. It tells the history of Lawnswood High School. A few of these have survived down the years; one is reproduced here. I'm very grateful to Elizabeth Stephenson and Grete Wheeler, both of whom loaned their treasured copies.

There are fifty-six brochure pages on fourteen web pages. They make absolutely fascinating reading and should download quite quickly.

Thanks to Grete Wheeler and an anonymous but excellent photographer, there is a fantastic black-and-white photo of the Centenary Speech Day in Leeds Town Hall. Click here to see it.

If you have any memories of the Centenary celebrations, please e-mail lhs.alumnae@gmail.com