The passing of Mrs Joycelynne Ashby of Bethany Gospel Hall, on the Stoney Ground Road, has been announced. The highly-regarded former long-standing Music Instructor died at the age of 90.
The late Mrs Ashby was the widow of Pastor William Ashby, Founder of Bethany Gospel Hall, who died in January 2013 at the age of 94.
She served for some thirty years as the local representative for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in London and retired in 2010. Mrs Ashby, described as “The Dean of Anguilla’s Music Teachers”, has taught more than half of Anguilla’s music teachers among her many students over a period of some forty-four years, and she therefore impacted music education in Anguilla in a tremendous way.
She came to Anguilla in the 1970s with her husband. She taught at the Secondary School for some time before beginning to tutor students privately. In 1980 she wrote to the Royal Schools of Music in the United Kingdom (now the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music), and was successful in having Anguilla registered as an examining centre – an arrangement which continues today.
Mrs Ashby was awarded the Anguilla Badge of Honour and Queen’s Certificate in 1009 for her outstanding contribution to music education in Anguilla.
