W. Herrera. B.A., B.Mus. - from Phoenix 1970-71 [undated - assumed post-October 1970]

In the history of schools, as of nations, there appear from time to time personalities who become rallying points for noble traditions; they are remembered, sometimes with awe, often with affection and always with admiration.

Such a person was Mr. Herrera who spent twenty-two years of his professional life in building up tradition of musical excellence at Drayton Manor Grammar School. We remember with affection a colleague and teacher who was warm-hearted and generous, and with respect a musician who combined scholarship with a truly amazing practical ability. Nobody who performed for Mr Herrera will forget his astonishing versatility at demonstrating just how an awkward passage should be played, whether on a flute of a double-bass, a violin or a bassoon.

In terms of statistics alone his achievements are outstanding. There is an impressive list of most competent professional musicians who, after passing through his hands, have left the School end have done well. From him they acquired the basic skill which is the fundamental of all craftsmanship, and from him, too, they received encouragement and the stimulus which did not always take the form of praise and congratulation. Most could tell of the trenchant, but well-deserved, censure which greeted them when they were guilty of slip-shod, careless work, but can remember with amusement the wit which marked his most cutting criticisms.

His colleagues on the Staff will long remember his chuckling laugh and his anecdotes which usually had sufficient autobiographical content to give them an air of verisimilitude, or to stir feelings of envy, even when doubts as to authenticity crept in.

His pupils will recall a very human, understanding person whose knowledge of his subject was vast. Plainsong and atonality; never could it be said of him that he did not "know his stuff" - that most damning of all judgments passed on teachers - for he did, and it was the very essence of his life.

Time has moved on relentlessly and Mr. Herrera has left us to go into retirement in Spain. He takes with him our sincere good wishes for a long and happy life in a different sphere of activity - for it is impossible to imagine him content to do nothing. We thank him for his work here and we treasure the "monumentutn aere perennius" which he has left us - a symposium of sound scholarship, boundless enthusiasm and an undeviating determination to reject all that is not of the very best.

A. J. M.