During my reminiscences this year, I will mention the London College of Furniture several times. This school has existed in some form since the late 1800s, and in the early 1960s, William Luff started teaching evening classes in violin making and repair. By 1970 the school had moved into a new facility on Commercial Street in London's East End and expanded its courses into a three-year certificate program. William Shirtcliff was the director of the Musical Instrument Program, and William Luff passed the violin teaching position on to his start student, Patricia Naismith. She taught both the daily certificate classes during the day and the part-time evening classes. The criteria for student acceptance for courses was quite selective and included a personal interview.
However, in 1971 the Authority decided that the new school needed students; lots of students to fill the new facility. So, entrance criteria were canceled for people applying to the school for the 1972 entrance, including the personal interview, and all applying students were accepted. That is how a young Danny Larson from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, received a chance to go to London and study violin making.
The tuition for the first year was £50. At the beginning of my second year, Mr. Shirtcliff's assistant pulled me aside. She said there had been a clerical error and that I should not have paid any tuition for the previous year because I had been eighteen years old when I entered the course. She laid five crisp ten-pound notes in my hand, and I had food for months.
The picture is the entrance of the London College of Furniture in 1972. The violin workshop is the room on the third floor with the lights on. The lights were always on.