Tribute to Malcolm Heywood

Until he moved to Yorkshire, Malcolm Heywood was a well known resident of Station Road who participated in “Gardens Sunday”. Many will have seen him conduct Tutbury Band at events such as the Scout’s Carnival and Rolleston has provided a strong contingent of enthusiastic Band members. The following is a tribute written by David Walford (Tutbury Band) that appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of the Rollestonian..

Tutbury Band were immensely saddened to learn that Malcolm Heywood, founder and Life President of the band had died peacefully in his sleep. Malcolm had suffered severe problems with his heart in 1987 and again in 1999 but such was his energy and enthusiasm that it didn’t seem to register that he was not entirely fit. Malcolm is survived by his widow, Vicky and daughter, Rebecca both of whom are also musicians.

Malcolm came to Tutbury as Headmaster of Richard Wakefield school in 1979; a somewhat unlikely choice as he looked like the long haired folk singer he was – as well as being a talented and experienced teacher. A year later Malcolm started a school band which metamorphosed to the Tutbury Village Band of about 20 players, in order to take advantage of an Art’s Council grant. 

During the subsequent years Malcolm displayed a rare talent (apart from being an excellent musician) in being able to enthuse children and adults with the enjoyment of making music and loyalty to the Band. Performances may not always have been at the highest levels of professionalism – but they were always fun for both players and listeners. There was always (and still is) a strong element of training and development in the Band and Malcolm always seemed to find talented people who were prepared to help the less experienced with the result that Tutbury Band is now one of the best community wind bands that can be found in the Midlands. 

The best tribute to Malcolm’s work as Bandmaster is the fact that two years after his leaving the Band and moving to Yorkshire, the Tutbury Band is still going from strength to strength with 140+ members. His enthusiasm for making music was undiminished up to the end. It was only a couple of weeks ago that he was borrowing spare instruments from Tutbury to augment the instruments available for a new band that he had formed for players in the Driffield area.

A very large number of people owe Malcolm an enormous debt of gratitude for the interest and pleasure he provided and, as Vicky said; “If Tutbury Band stop playing and practising he’ll come back and haunt the lot of you!”

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Last updated: 24 June 2006