Victoria Wood and Lesley Schatzberger, the story of a Bury Grammar School friendship
When Victoria Wood and Lesley Schatzberger met, age 11, at Bury Grammar School, they were two shy, introverted girls more interested in music than fashion, boys or discos. They found a common bond though playing duets - Victoria on the trumpet and Lesley on the clarinet.
When Victoria Wood and Lesley Schatzberger met, age 11, at Bury Grammar School, they were two shy, introverted girls more interested in music than fashion, boys or discos. They found a common bond though playing duets - Victoria on the trumpet and Lesley on the clarinet.
While Victoria went on to become the comedian, writer, actress and performer who changed the face of British comedy, Lesley, OBE, became a world-renowned clarinettist and teacher who also set up the charity Jessie’s Fund to help children with complex needs communicate through music.
Victoria’s life is celebrated in a new film Becoming Victoria Wood, which features celebrities including Jessica Barden, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Maxine Peake, Joan Armatrading, Jasper Carrott, and Michael Ball - as well as an interview with Lesley and Anne Sweeney, another of Victoria’s childhood friends from Bury Grammar School.
As part of the production a film crew came into BGS with staff opening up the school archive to bring Victoria’s story to life. They captured Lesley returning to school for the first time since she left at 18. Speaking from the Roger Kay Hall, leaning on the grand piano Victoria would have played, she shared her memories of meeting her friend ‘Vicky’:
“I imagine she felt as intimidated as I did, she certainly looked as though she did. She certainly wasn’t one of the brash, confident girls,” Lesley recalled.
“I met Vicky through music. She was good at what she wanted to be good at…. and that wasn’t most of the subjects…. She didn’t pull out the stops with things she wasn’t interested in doing.”
In the footage, Lesley unfurls a school photo showing Victoria and reads a poem she wrote for the school magazine - an ode…. to a safety pin! As Lesley says her quirkiness was already very apparent. Another piece of writing written without punctuation showed her rebelliousness, according to Lesley. She also looks through a programme and photos from a performance of The Winter’s Tale that they were both involved in.
“I don’t think I noticed green shoots of her future career, but I wouldn’t have been that surprised because there was something brewing under the surface……Wow…what a career she went on to have….Genius,” said Lesley.
After the filming Lesley gave us a unique insight into her friendship with Victoria and what it was like to return to school after so long:
How did you end up getting involved in the film?
“When Rogan Productions asked me to contribute to their planned documentary, Becoming Victoria Wood, I wondered whether I would have enough of interest to say about the shy girl I met when we were both 11 years old. The producer and I had a remote meeting, and she seemed happy with what I could offer, so a date was scheduled and a venue arranged – BGS!”
What was it like returning to Bury Grammar School?
“I hadn’t been back to school since the day I left, so it was with some trepidation that I parked the car in Tenterden Street one Sunday in June last year. The first hurdle was getting into the school: the entrance had been modernised and extended, and I felt slightly disorientated. Once in the building things started to seem a little more familiar, and then going into the Roger Kay Hall it felt like jumping back in time, although I realised that my younger self had not appreciated quite what a beautiful space it was.”
What were your memories of Vicky?
‘“I reflected on how, in our first few years at BGS, Vicky (as she was known then) and I were both quite introverted, shy, musical, and not as interested in fashion, boys or discos as other young teenagers seemed to be. We would play duets, me on clarinet and Vicky on trumpet, and we both joined Bury Military Band. Vicky stayed longer than I did – within a few months I had moved over to Bury Orchestra. And so it continued: as an adult Vic loved brass bands – for me it was classical orchestras, playing in which had become my profession.”
Did your relationship continue after school?
“After going to university Vic and I lost touch until I asked whether she might consider being the patron of the charity I had set up in memory of my daughter (www.jessiesfund.org.uk). Jessie’s Fund helps children with complex needs to communicate through music, and Vic immediately said that because she understood the power of music, she would be happy to be our patron. Later, when writing the foreword to a book about our work, she wrote:
I know I was a terrible uncooked mixture of shyness, lumpiness, rage, fat, spots, talent, idleness, ambition, but the first day I sat in the middle of the trumpet section of Bury Military Band, and heard professional level musicians soar their way through Pineapple Poll, a little door in my heart opened up and I knew that the music was feeding my soul and my spirit and that I was more than a lumpy old adolescent.”
Do you have any final thoughts on her school friend and her legacy?
“It was a joy to rekindle our friendship decades after leaving BGS: the shy child was still within the immensely talented and successful adult she had become, but I would not have guessed, at 11, how hard-working, focused, and ambitious she could be. It was a privilege to be involved in a film to honour her rise to ‘national treasure’ status, and to do this in our old alma mater.”
If you want to know more about these two immensely talented school friends then read on….
Victoria Wood - the iconic comedian, writer, actress, and performer who helped define British comedy.
Born in Prestwich and educated at Bury Grammar School for Girls, Victoria’s talent emerged early - whether at the piano at lunchtime rehearsals in the Roger Kay Hall or on stage with fellow pupils. After leaving school in 1971, she went on to study drama and build a remarkable career spanning stand-up, television, theatre, and screenwriting. Her sharp wit and compassion made classics like Acorn Antiques and Dinnerladies instantly recognisable and much loved.
Her legacy continues to inspire our pupils, performers, writers and comedians nationwide. Victoria’s approach was ground-breaking, her writing unique and we will always be proud to count her as an ‘old girl’ of Bury Grammar School.
Lesley Schatzberger - world renowned clarinettist and founder of ‘Jessie’s fund’.
Lesley Schatzberger has been at the forefront of historical instrument performance while also contributing broadly to the world of music. After studying at BGS, she trained at the junior department of the Royal Manchester College of Music, the University of York, and completed postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music.
She served as principal clarinet with Roger Norrington's London Classical Players, John Eliot Gardiner's English Baroque Soloists, and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Lesley has toured extensively in Europe, the United States, and Japan, including performances with Stockhausen's chamber ensemble and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Lesley taught at the Royal Northern College of Music and founded Jessie's Fund, a charity supporting seriously ill children through music in memory of her daughter. In 2006, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of York; in 2021, she was awarded Honorary Membership by the Royal Northern College of Music; and in 2025 she was awarded the OBE at Windsor Castle for Services to Children with Life-Limiting Illnesses and Communication Difficulties. Victoria Wood was Patron of Jessie’s Fund for many years, an honour now held by Maxine Peake.
It was heartwarming to see Victoria Wood and Lesley Schatzberger’s friendship documented on film and to note their enduring connection to Bury Grammar School.