Keen to revive the music that had inspired him and others of his generation he took it upon himself to establish a rehearsal band of like minded musicians to get together once a week for their own pleasure and play the kind of music they really enjoyed – Big Band Swing! This gathering began in an upstairs room of the Wellington Hotel in Didsbury Manchester, where after a few short weeks the numbers attending the rehearsal sessions had swollen from just the musicians to the wives, families, friends and locals. So great was the support that the band had to move to larger premises three times in eighteen months. In 1969, Syd decided to take the music to which he was so dedicated to a wider audience. He severed his connections with the BBC and took the Syd Lawrence Orchestra on the road. \r