Tony Leigh was a founding member of Amadeus; he was also an Old Crosbeian – an Old Boy of Merchant Taylors’ School in Crosby.
Sadly, Tony died suddenly – totally out of the blue in 2007 – a couple of days after saying he’d “gone to heaven” when attending a concert by The Sixteen in Blackburn Cathedral.
For many years we rehearsed in the Music School at Merchants. And in recognition of being allowed to use the space, we funded a choral scholarship, to provide singing lessons for a member of the Senior Boys’ School. After Tony’s death, it was renamed the Tony Leigh Memorial Scholarship.
Over the years, the recipients have been:
- Richard Hinks
- Stuart O’Hara
- Alex Roberts
- Edward Thornley
- Michael Hillesdon
- Lewis Thornley
Since David Holroyd retired from Merchant Taylors’, we have been rehearsing in Holy Trinity Church Hall, Formby – where we started, back in 2000. The Choral Scholarship has not been ended for all time, but was inevitably interrupted by the events of 2020/2021, and we need to decide how best to continue to encourage a boy to develop his love of singing – a passion which Tony had throughout his life.
In his school days at Merchants, if you misbehaved during hymn practice, you had to sit under the piano. So, some 50+ years later, he returned to his “naughty seat” for the sake of this photograph.