Laurence West's obituary from The Telegraph, June 2004.
Laurence West, who has died aged 91, was for many years chairman and artistic director of the Windsor Festival, having played a crucial role in its creation in 1969.
Laurence West, who has died aged 91, was for many years chairman and artistic director of the Windsor Festival, having played a crucial role in its creation in 1969.
Year after year, in the face of many predictions of disaster, he raised the
necessary money for the festival and created an impressive programme. In the
early days, international performers of high calibre - including William Walton,
André Previn, Ravi Shankar, Segovia and many Menuhins - came to Windsor to
perform in the Waterloo Chamber and St George's Hall (in the state apartments),
St George's Chapel and the Lower Ward; there were also concerts at Eton,
Maidenhead and Slough.
It was possible to spot in the audiences figures such as Queen Frederica of
Greece, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Lord Mountbatten, Harold Macmillan
and Peter Sellers.
West's first role was as executive chairman, working alongside Robin Woods,
the Dean of Windsor, whose dream child the Festival was; the artistic direction
was in the inspired hands of Yehudi Menuhin and Ian Hunter. One of West's most
important tasks was to organise the finances, and he proved adept at charming
sponsorship from wealthy friends.
During the first Festival, Laurence West and his second wife held a party for
140 guests at Dial House, their home at Englefield Green, at the end of which
Princess Irene of Greece, their guest for the duration, played one of two grand
pianos in the hall.
In 1970, to raise money, the Wests embarked on a series of "chain lunches",
mostly in Surrey. Each of eight organisers paid £1, then gave a lunch for seven,
and so on. But money was always a problem; after the 1970 Festival, Windsor
Council dropped its funding, and West did not disguise his disappointment. "We
will be having to pick about £30,000-worth of artistes and musicians, and we
will be wanting to know the money is coming from somewhere," he told the press.
In the event, he managed it.
In 1974 West assumed the roles of both chairman and artistic director, running the festival from his home. He regularly invited Janet Baker and the Amadeus String Quartet; he also managed to persuade Artur Rubinstein to perform.
West and his loyal team were ably supported by his second wife, Désiré, until she died in 1978, aged 55. When there were ruffled feathers amongst the workers - and West was an inveterate ruffler of feathers - she was on hand to soothe them. After her death, he missed her diplomatic touch; but he continued to run Windsor Festivals until 1994, when, at the age of 81, he reluctantly surrendered the reins.
Laurence Conway West, the son of a garage owner, was born at Woking on February 7 1913. After Woking County School for Boys he trained to be a professional organist and studied the piano with Harold Craxton (accompanist to Clara Butt and Nellie Melba) and Adelina de Lara (one of the last pupils of Clara Schumann). He went on to be organist at Sutton Green, Ripley, and St Mary of Bethany, Woking.
During the Second World War, West was employed in marine mechanics, and became assistant organist to Dr William Harris at St George's Chapel, Windsor, who then steered him to the Royal Chapel in the Great Park; he played the organ there from 1946, establishing a small choir which performed in productions of The Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which West conducted.
In 1941 he married the first of two beautiful wives, Joan Trevor-Wilson, with whom he had a son and daughter. They were divorced in 1951. West was appointed MVO in 1956, when he retired from his post at the Royal Chapel.
For a time he farmed on Exmoor, and lived partly in London. In those years he was an accompanist at the Wigmore Hall.
By his second marriage, to Désiré Green, daughter of Commander Basil Green, the chairman of Royal Doulton, he had two further sons and a daughter.
He did not remarry in later life, though there were times when he appeared to be auditioning.
In 1974 West assumed the roles of both chairman and artistic director, running the festival from his home. He regularly invited Janet Baker and the Amadeus String Quartet; he also managed to persuade Artur Rubinstein to perform.
West and his loyal team were ably supported by his second wife, Désiré, until she died in 1978, aged 55. When there were ruffled feathers amongst the workers - and West was an inveterate ruffler of feathers - she was on hand to soothe them. After her death, he missed her diplomatic touch; but he continued to run Windsor Festivals until 1994, when, at the age of 81, he reluctantly surrendered the reins.
Laurence Conway West, the son of a garage owner, was born at Woking on February 7 1913. After Woking County School for Boys he trained to be a professional organist and studied the piano with Harold Craxton (accompanist to Clara Butt and Nellie Melba) and Adelina de Lara (one of the last pupils of Clara Schumann). He went on to be organist at Sutton Green, Ripley, and St Mary of Bethany, Woking.
During the Second World War, West was employed in marine mechanics, and became assistant organist to Dr William Harris at St George's Chapel, Windsor, who then steered him to the Royal Chapel in the Great Park; he played the organ there from 1946, establishing a small choir which performed in productions of The Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which West conducted.
In 1941 he married the first of two beautiful wives, Joan Trevor-Wilson, with whom he had a son and daughter. They were divorced in 1951. West was appointed MVO in 1956, when he retired from his post at the Royal Chapel.
For a time he farmed on Exmoor, and lived partly in London. In those years he was an accompanist at the Wigmore Hall.
By his second marriage, to Désiré Green, daughter of Commander Basil Green, the chairman of Royal Doulton, he had two further sons and a daughter.
He did not remarry in later life, though there were times when he appeared to be auditioning.
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