Pupils I’ll never forget
Grant Westoby was present at
the birth of The Darkness
Dan Hawkins was an unassuming,
intelligent young man; quite a thinker in a
way. I taught him GCSE English and he had
a nice, incisive style of writing. He was
imposing—about 6ft 3in — but gentle and
introverted compared to his brother Justin,
who was much more flamboyant and used
to wear black nail varnish. They were
friends with another lad, Ed Graham, who
was always tapping pencils. The three of
them used to walk around school like
wandering minstrels. Dan was in a number
of local bands.
Dan left school at 16 and I didn’t hear
any more about him until 10 years later,
when a colleague passed me a copy of the
Eastern Daily Press and said “Look, this
guy’s about to hit the big time and he
remembers you.” There was an interview
with Dan, who was now guitarist in The
Darkness [justin is the vocalist and Ed the
drummer] in which he said I was an
inspiration. It’s nice when you bump into
ex-pupils in the street or hear they have
got a degree, but for Dan to remember me
in that way was great. 1 contacted the
band’s management and went to see him
when they played a gig before the Brits.
We had a drink together and he paid to
put me up in a hotel. It was a bit surreal,
but just like meeting an old friend really.
The school was having a new music
suite built, so 1 asked if the band would
come and officially open it. They did, and
they donated thousands of pounds worth
of equipment: guitars, drums and
amplifiers. It was really overwhelming.
When they came back to the school,
Dan gave me a signed apple that said
“Thanks teach!” in black marker pen — I
have put it in formaldehyde — and I bought
him Philip Pullman’s Hi’s Dark Materials
trilogy. Now we have a plaque on the wall
and signed posters to show other students
they can achieve. Lowestoft is not exactly
a sleepy place, but The Darkness is one of
the biggest things to happen to the town
for a long time. A deputy head used to
bellow at them: “Silence! You’ll never
make a living out of making a racket.” It’s
nice to be proved wrong.
Grant Westoby is head of the alternative
curriculum at Kirkley high school in Lowestoft,
Suffolk.