He was put forward for a scheme called the Mason Plan, which allowed talented children to move to a grammar school.
He accepted and remained there under the baton of Sir Alex Gibson until he was offered the position of principal flute in a then newly formed chamber orchestra called the Northern Sinfonia, which was based in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Haslam worked with artists including John Lill, Ida Haendel, Radu Lupu, Sir Thomas Allan, Maurice Andre, Cecile Ousset, Paul Tortelier, Henryk Szeryng and Jean-Bernard Pommier.
As a concerto player, he had the opportunity of working on numerous occasions with conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Rudolf Schwarz, Sir Charles Groves, Richard Hickox, George Malcolm, Myung-Whun Chung, Tamas Vasary, Christopher Seaman and Malcolm Arnold, both in concert, and in BBC recordings.
Since then he has recorded a second set and made a DVD featuring his ‘Newcastle Overture’ and performances of his Songs of Northumbria sung by Sir Thomas Allen and Sheila Armstrong with the EPO in Durham Cathedral.