 He returned to Kent in 1943 and worked professionally for a while with the Claude Giddins band, before being conscripted to work as a Bevin Boy in the coal mines for the remainder of the war.In the mid-1940s Verrell began performing with Scottish saxophonist Tommy Whittle and Belgian trumpeter Johnny Claes.Then between 1947 and 1951 he played with several big bands, including those led by Carl Barriteau and Cyril Stapleton.