At age 12, Haydn Wood returned from the Isle of Man and played in a concert organised by his brother Harry, on 21 January 1895 at the Liberal Hall, Slaithwaite. The solo violinists were Harry and Haydn, with their brother Daniel the solo flautist. At age 16, in April 1898, while he was studying violin, piano and composition at the Royal College of Music in London, Haydn Wood returned again to the Liberal Hall to play in another of Harry's concerts. Harry and Haydn were the violinists, Daniel the flautist, and their sister Eliza a pianist, playing with other singers and instrumentalists. A third concert took place on 6 January 1902 at the Liberal Hall with Haydn and the same brothers and sister.

Haydn was then already known as ‘a real live prodigy..., a bright-looking little lad, all smiles and collar, who plays the fiddle as if it were the easiest thing in the world, as easy as eating jam tarts.’ (The Musical Times, 1 January 1898).

Haydn Wood performed again at the Liberal Hall on 22 October 1913 in a concert organised by the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Society. His sister Eliza was at the piano. He played a Hungarian Rhapsody by Hauser, Humoresque by Dvorak, a Sérénade by Gabriel Pierné, and his own Slumber Song. And he accompanied the baritone Montague Borwell in The Sea Road, one of the Three Sea Songs which he had composed.

He is not known to have performed again in Slaithwaite until 21 November 1934. He was by then a renowned composer and conductor.

In this concert, he conducted the Slaithwaite Philharmonic Society's full orchestra in some of his own compositions: A Manx Rhapsody, Prelude, A Brown Bird Singing, and Three Famous Pictures. In the same concert, the tenor Frank Titterton sang Haydn Wood's songs A Song of Quietness, Singing to You and The Unforgotten Melody, accompanied by the composer on the violin.

For the formal opening of the new bandroom by Harry Wood (29 August 1925), Haydn Wood sent a telegram: ‘Please convey to Slaithwaite Brass Band my heartiest good wishes for their future welfare; sorry I am not able to be present to wish you luck personally’. And he sent a five guineas donation.

In 1933 (November?), Harry Wood wrote from London: ‘I am staying with my brother Haydn... We join in offering Slaithwaite Band our heartiest congratulations on their wonderful success, and hope this will be the forerunner of many more triumphs for our native musicians’. The band had just won first prize in the Grand Shield competition, at Crystal Palace.

Haydn Wood composed a signature tune for the band, a march, Merridale. It was given its first public performance at a carol concert on 19 December 1948, and was broadcast by the band on 4 July 1949, from the BBC North Regional Station. The band performed it again on 21 December 2008, and recorded it in 2016.

The family sold the Lewisham Hotel in 1945 (February?) to the Bentley and Shaw brewery.

After Haydn Wood's death, Messrs Bentley and Shaw fixed a brass plaque on the wall at the entrance to the hotel, to celebrate the composer and violinist's birthday. On this 25 March 25th 1960, Mr. George Robinson, the landlord, provided a free supper for customers.

And on 18 November 1960, a room to commemorate Haydn Wood was opened at the hotel by the Chairman of Colne Valley Council, Clr J. R. Sykes. ‘A photograph of the composer looks down from a wall which also has framed copies of two of his most famous songs, Roses of Picardy and A Brown Bird Singing... The room was blessed by the vicar of Slaithwaite, the Reverend J. T. Pendleton. Later there was a musical evening which appropriately began with the singing of Roses of Picardy.’ (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 19 November 1960).

On 25 July 1966, ‘customers at the Lewisham Hotel... sang Roses of Picardy and his other songs in a final sing-song before the hotel closed its doors for the last time... The hotel... has been closed by Charrington's Yokshire Breweries for economic reasons... Among scores of people who packed the hotel... were the composer's niece, Miss Mary Hannah [May] Wood, and his godson, Mr Haydn Wood, both of whom live at Golcar. Said Miss Wood, “... My uncle was very attached to the Lewisham and always wanted to visit it when he returned to the district.” ’ (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 26 July 1966)

What happened to the plaque when the hotel was demolished in January 1969 remains a mystery. It was missing until July 1984, when it was returned to the Haydn Wood Musical Festival, Slaithwaite, from Brasschaat in Belgium (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 1 August 1984). Another plaque was affixed upon the wall that was erected on part of the site where the Lewisham Hotel once stood. It was unveiled by Miss Mary Freeman, President of the Colne Valley Society, on 1 May 1987.

The Haydn Wood Musical Festival was first held in September 1960, at the Colne Valley High School.
The Haydn Wood Trophy was presented by the last surviving of Haydn Wood's brothers and sisters, Mrs Eliza B. Gledhill of Golcar. Many trophies were added later, among them the Lewisham Plaque, the plaque that had been fixed at the entrance of the Lewisham Hotel in 1960.

The 50th Festival was held on 5, 6, and 7 November 2009 at the Linthwaite Methodist Church Centre, Linthwaite.
It included a new category: the Haydn Wood Class, the test piece being the contestants' own choice of Haydn Wood's music.

Scandalously, the Festival Committee has decided not to carry on with the Haydn Wood Class, and therefore not to encourage the performing of Haydn Wood's repertoire.