G.B. Greenwood Obituary Notice

It is with deep regret that I inform members of the School community of the death of Mr. Brian Greenwood.

Mr. Greenwood enjoyed a continuous association with Woodhouse Grove School for more than 85 years. He was the youngest pupil ever to join the School upon the opening of Brontë House in 1934 and left the Grove in 1945 having been its longest serving pupil – 11 years and one term.

From 1945, Mr. Greenwood was an active member of the Old Grovian Association and served two terms of office as its Chairman.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he was the School’s lacrosse coach and referee having formed the Old Grovian Lacrosse Club in the 1950s with his former school friends.

In 1959, Mr. Greenwood was invited to join the School’s Board of Governors before becoming Vice-Chairman in 1964. In 1969, Mr. Greenwood succeeded Sir George Martin to become Chairman of Governors, a position he held until 2009. He holds the distinction of being the longest serving Chairman of Governors to have held office in any Public School. Upon his retirement from the Board, Mr. Greenwood became the School’s very first Honorary President, a role he held for the rest of his remarkable life.

All of this was accomplished in parallel with an extremely active business career which embraced various industries both at home and in the U.S.A.

Mr. Greenwood has left Woodhouse Grove with a rich legacy that will long outlive the decades he spent building it up. As a School community, we offer our sincere condolences. On a personal note, it has been a great pleasure and a privilege to have known Brian for over 35 years – as a pupil and, more recently, as Headmaster of the School he loved so much.

Our thoughts and prayers at this very difficult time are with Brian’s wife, Enid, daughter, Patricia, son, David, and the wider Greenwood and Urry families.

James Lockwood MA
Headmaster