Julia Cameron writes:
BILL LLEWELLYN was one of the most gifted musicians of his generation. In 1950, he was appointed assistant master to the acclaimed John Whitridge Wilson, at Charterhouse, Godalming. Fifteen years later, he succeeded Wilson as Director of Music, and, in 1984, became the school’s Second Master.
Under Bill’s leadership, a Vaughan Williams Music School was opened in 1983, and the position of composer-in-residence was created. Bill would take the orchestra on exchange visits to Germany, and the choir toured North America. During these years, Bill was also Musical Director of the Farnham and Bourne Choral Society; Music Director and, later, President of the Godalming Operatic Society; Music Adviser to the National Federation of Women’s Institutes; and President of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (1977-78). He was also in demand at music festivals in the UK and overseas, often as adjudicator.
William Benjamin James Llewellyn was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, and grew up in Colwyn Bay. He won a choral exhibition to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he spent a year reading natural sciences, before undertaking National Service with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It was while he was a staff sergeant, running an education centre in Nottingham, that he formed his first choir. From then on, a pattern of high-energy leadership and innovation would mark his life.
After being demobbed, Bill entered the Royal Academy of Music. Here, he led a madrigal group. He soon became a co-founder and conductor of the Linden Singers, a small professional ensemble appearing in the 1950s and ’60s on both the BBC’s Music at Ten, and the popular Home Service programme Friday Night is Music Night. His publications include The Novello Book of Carols (1986) and Worship in Song (1997), a collection of 34 worship songs, for the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM).
Bill and the hymn-writer Bishop Timothy Dudley-Smith had a long friendship. Bill set Dudley-Smith’s rendering of the Magnificat, “Tell out my Soul”, to the tune Tidings in 1965; it soon became a Songs of Praise favourite. Their collaboration continued into the new century with Bill as music editor for several selections of Bishop Dudley-Smith’s hymns.
Bill and his wife, Mildred, whom he married in 1950, retired to Devon. Here, Bill spent 12 years chairing the Devon area RSCM, and was conductor of the Bridgwater Choral Society for nine years. They played a full part in the life of St Andrew’s, Colyton, where their support of Messy Church led to another Llewellyn/Dudley-Smith collaboration — a collection of 20 songs for all-age worship, One Big Family (RSCM, 2018).
Bill had numerous hobbies outside the music world: photography, computing, railways, and foreign travel, especially to Italy. He was known for his kindness and generosity, and his encouragement of young musicians, and as a great storyteller. He had a firm Christian faith, and a great sense of fun.
Mildred died in 2011. Bill leaves three children and two grandchildren.
William Llewellyn died on 1 January, aged 97.
