Anthony Padric Harvey Royse
Obituary
Tony Royse was a man of many talents, the most notable of which was his musical abilities. With his perfect pitch and sight-reading skill, he got away with passing his piano exams as a child with very little practice! His love of music started young, and he was always surrounded by music and as schoolboy, even meeting the composer, Vaughn Williams. When asked about it, he said that Williams had visited his school and having seen Tony in the hallway, asked in a very loud voice, ‘Boy, where are the toilets?’ Perhaps not the inspirational moment it could have been. Having reached the height of 6 feet by age 12, music was a safer option than sports and it was clear he had a natural talent for it.
While a student at the Trinity College of Music and Royal School of Church Music in London he took up playing the bassoon as an instrument as well as continuing with the piano. He had already shown exceptional musical skill and talent and was awarded the Bantock Prize from Trinity in 1958 for composition. After graduating he decided to go into teaching.
Having been diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic at the age of 17, he met his future wife in the hospital while having a very bad low glucose episode. Andrea was one of the nurses charged with trying to restrain him and the next day she went back to show him her bruised arms. The rest, as they say, is history.
He was working at Shirley House prep school in Watford when they welcomed their first child, Julia, in 1964. Their second daughter, Susan (Susie) was born at their next home, the Dragon School in Oxford. It was there that the family’s life was forever changed when Michael Nightingale arrived on an exchange program with a school in Canada, Appleby College. By coincidence, Tony had seen a job advertised for this very school and was able to ask Michael about it. All positive things were said! The headmaster of said school, Ned Larson, arrived for a visit and to interview Tony, but only after the Wimbledon final was over, and offered him the job of director of music for Appleby. They would fly the family over, they could live on campus and the salary would be double. Andrea could even work in the school’s infirmary. I am not sure the sentence had been finished before the packing of suitcases had begun.
So it was in the autumn of 1972 that the Royse family began 11 glorious years in Oakville, Ontario. As well as teaching music, and regularly almost knocking himself out on the metal beams in the low ceilings of the practice rooms under the chapel, he also played the organ for school services. He was responsible for updating things there as, on his arrival, he found the organ to not only be falling apart but also facing away from the choir. After finding a more up to date instrument he had it fitted to the position it is in now. He arranged carols for the choir to sing and with the reverend Ian Stuart became quite a famous double act. The Appleby chapel Christmas midnight mass became incredibly popular. As people entered the chapel, Tony would be softly playing the organ and afterwards people would ask him what that piece of music was as it was so lovely. Tony could not answer them as he had just been making it up as he went along!
Tony was invited to join a new group of amateur musicians in Oakville which would become the Oakville Symphony Orchestra. Starting off playing the bassoon, it was not long before he was voted in as the new conductor and began bringing in many other musical groups to work together in the newly built Oakville Centre of Performing Arts. Tony was a born leader and performer, entertaining and charismatic. He brought in a new era of interactive Christmas Concerts; the audience being divided up to sing their various parts in the carols as allocated. In his spare time, he also wrote the scores for 3 ballets; Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and The Emperor’s New Clothes which were performed with the dancers from The Elizabeth Paterson Dance Company. A VCR recording was made of Alice on a cassette the size of a brick. Luckily the video recordings of all 3 ballets have been preserved on DVD. The first time Tony was shown these as a surprise gift, he was elated as he had never been able to see them before; he had always been conducting the orchestra!
Tony would add his own touch to the Appleby musicals. For the Mikado, Tony would rewrite the words for I’ve Got a Little List so that it related to staff and students to great hilarity from the audience. The annual Royse/Stuart staff summer B-B-Qs were famous, or should that be infamous!
Tony was also regularly found helping on sports days at the school, with starting pistol in hand, straw hat on his head, complete with orange and green feathers, and red, white and blue check trousers! Appleby was more than a home; it was a family, and friendships made then last to this day.
However, times were changing and in 1983 he felt that he had to move on. With no other options around, he looked further afield, and the family eventually left Canada for Hilton College in Natal, South Africa. He quickly got the chapel organ updated and protected from the droppings of the bats that lived in the chapel roof. Tony naturally made great friends and connections with the local music scene in Pietermaritzburg and played the organ in concerts with the Pietermaritzburg Orchestra even writing the wonderful ‘Boris and Natasha’, an introduction to the orchestra for children, along with the orchestra’s musical director Errol Girdlestone, a true kindred spirit, who remained a great friend. His talents at the school were not fully appreciated, and in 1985, the family decided to return to England. From 1985 to 1991 he was Director of Music at Wellesley House Prep School in Broadstairs, Kent - one of the feeder schools for Eaton and Harrow.
In 1990, Tony had his first heart attack and after having double bi-pass surgery, felt that it was time to retire. They decided to stay in Broadstairs as Tony was very quickly involved with local music scene. He conducted the 70 Choir (now Thanet Chamber Choir) and the Broadstairs & St Peter’s Singers where he once again wrote and arranged the music they performed. He frequently had work commissioned and performed by notable choirs and orchestras across the UK, including the Royal Marine’s from Deal. The Thanet Male Voice Choir still perform at least one of his arrangements at every performance.
The advent of technology allowed a whole new world for Tony as he could now write music on the computer, and have it played back! Arrangements of his carols as well as original pieces could be bought and downloaded without him having to do anything, and he loved seeing what countries his music was going to.
In 1999 Tony had a stroke that affected his left side. Thankfully this had no impact on his speech or musicality, but it did severely affect his movement. The family dog, Layla, was allowed to visit him in hospital and Tony would push himself along the corridor in a wheelchair with Layla in front on a leash, yelling ‘mush, mush’ to the amusement of the other patients.
In these last few years, Tony became increasingly frail and his eyesight and hearing grew weaker making communication difficult. Although there were tears and frustration at being bed bound, he remained remarkably high in spirits and retained that fantastic sense of humour.
Tony passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of 20 February, just shy of his 86th birthday. He leaves behind his wife of 61 years, Andrea, and their two daughters, Julia and Susie, as well as all the people whose lives were impacted by Tony. He was an extraordinary person who lived an incredibly full life, with great spirit and presence, but most of all with love for and from his family and friends.
Funeral Service
Tony’s cremation ceremony will take place at 11am on 18 March at Thanet Crematorium in Broadstairs, Kent.
Donations to The Pilgrims Hospice instead of flowers please:
www.pilgrimshospices.org/get-involved/donate/donation-form
Information for the webcast of the funeral service:
Name Anthony Royse
Location Thanet Crematorium - Default Chapel
Date & Time Tuesday 18/03/2025 11:00
Use the PIN number below to access your webcast
Webcast Login PIN 425-4672
www.wesleymedia.co.uk/webcast-view
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Memory wall
His music was special, thought out of the box.
His humour was silly, so typically Brit
From Victoria Wood to a Goon Show skit.
The dogs he adored, but not so much cat
Their only use was to make a nice hat!
He cared about people, a friend to them all
So happy to help, just give him a call.
Not selfish but modest of talents he had.
Who was this you ask? Well, we called him DAD!
Susie Royse 27/02/25
I cannot think of anyone who knew Tony Royse who did not love him and his wonderful sense of humour. My husband Ian Stuart was the chaplain at Appleby College and worked closely with Tony as they devised the services for the students – and also the parents who chose to come to Friday services. They enjoyed each other’s company and had a mutual respect for their respective roles in the Chapel.
But we also got to know Tony and Andy, not only as colleagues but as close personal friends. They lived next door to us down by the lake on the campus at Appleby - our son Jamie and Susie were fairly close in age, and Ian and Julia developed a special bond during that time. Andy and I would grow our flowers for the summer from seed and plant the seedlings – which never really thrived that well, due to the winds off the lake and the tall oak trees shading the area, but we kept trying.
Memories of our summers together are especially dear to me, particularly the summer when we renovated our house down by the lake. Every morning, Tony and Andy would arrive, toolbox in hand to help us every step of the way. Andy and I would strip the doors of paint, and Ian and Tony work on renovating an outdoor veranda into a bedroom and sunroom – The Florida Room as Tony liked to call it. The floors were insulated with Styrofoam strips, that include kneeprints of Tony and Ian, which they duly signed and dated, should anyone ever in the future take up the floor and look. Seems to me they did the same with the walls – each day ending with Rum and cokes in the “Florida Room”. Oh, how I hated that name, which of course, Tony knew and loved to taunt me by using it as often as he could.
We were bereft when they moved to South Africa, life was never the same after that. Ian and Tony had shared such a close bond, and now they are both gone. But we will always have these happy memories - how wonderful is that!
An email making the rounds yesterday of Appleby classmates contained the following memories of Mr Royse:
• In Junior School when singing a hymn, if Mr. Royce couldn't hear us, he would either crank the volume of the speakers in the balcony, or if they had been off, would suddenly turn them on. When you were in Grade 8 sitting in the very back row of the Chapel balcony, those four speakers were only a few feet behind your head. If that didn't wake you up, nothing would.
• To this day, I still find myself humming various bits of the music he wrote for the choral Eucharists, hearing the organ accompaniment in my head.
• Who didn't love learning a new hymn one bar at a time?!
• At the time, I don't think we appreciated what a monumental contribution he made not only to Appleby but to the community at large. He was the conductor of the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, he wrote original scores not only for that but for Appleby as well, he was choirmaster, piano teacher, musical arranger and accompanist all rolled into one.
• What cruel twist of fate gave the tallest teacher in the school, the department with the lowest ceilings? I can still picture him walking down the hallway of the basement of the Chapel at 20 degrees to the vertical to avoid hitting his head on the steel beams of the ceiling.
• He will be missed.
• A few times when Mr Royce played that organ at full blast – chilling !! and very memorable.
• Boys, I could tear up thinking of the pleasure of watching the man push an out of tune piano down the middle of the Chapel.
• His joie de vivre … I wish I had written down all the dirty alternative lyrics he unexpectedly flew past us in choir rehearsals …If I ever write that book…you’ll all recognize the choir master.
• His dry wit and British humour made tedious hymn practice unexpectedly fun.
• He had a great joie de vivre and love of music. Well do I remember all those rehearsals for the musicals …
My condolences to Mrs Royse, Julia and Susan.
With Love from Canada, David Posen.
We often do not appreciate people until they are gone unfortunately. But for thousands, Mr. Royse made a very deep and lasting impact while at Appleby, his major gift was music, the likes of which still resonate in the cranium 50 years hence! One memory that is on rewind for me, was Mr. Royse playing a very loud, Phantom of the Opera-type composition, after the entire congregation had left, and as we were walking away. It really felt the chapel would explode. He was having great fun playing that organ for us inside and out! Thanks to Tony and all the Royses for your contributions to the Appleby community.
Shelby Taylor 1985
The Class of 1978 remembers Tony Royse as more than a Musical Director—he was a mentor, visionary, and cherished friend. His passion for music shaped Appleby College, from revitalizing the Chapel’s organ to crafting unforgettable performances. Tony’s warmth, humor, and boundless energy and creativity enriched our lives, whether through his inspired chapel gatherings, legendary Christmas concerts, or magnificent organ music which filled the chapel - a true testament to Tony Royse’s brilliance and passion. We also fondly remember belting our Lord of the Dance and God of Concrete to his conductor’s gyrations.
Beyond Appleby, he left an indelible mark on Oakville’s music scene and generations of students worldwide. Though he has passed, his music and spirit will forever echo in our hearts. Rest in peace, Tony—you will always be a part of the Appleby family.
— Appleby College, Class of 1978
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