Joanna - Her Life Remembered & Celebrated

Joanna Remembered – Friends Reminisce – A Life Celebrated

Joanna Remembered

On this page we Celebrate Joanna’s life in music (played by her) and spoken words; remember the Music Room with its collection of square pianos and listen to conversations recorded in 2010-2011 with family, some of her oldest friends and her husband Mike Beville.

Note The Audio player:
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Family & Friends Remember

Andreas Boyde (concert pianist): “She was a unique character, a wonderful friend, and an extraordinary musician. I think of Jo, as the most loyal friend I have ever had. Music was her passion and music brought us together.”

Andrew Lancaster (square piano restorer): “Jo was a fascinating, mercurial and highly talented person, with such generosity of affection and love for her friends; she inspired love and friendship in so many people whose lives she touched and enriched.”

Susan (daughter): “Jo was my mother; she was also my friend and confident; something I appreciate now, even more than before. Time is such a precious thing; we ought not to forget to cherish it.”

Jenny (daughter): “With all our similarities and differences; all our close times and arguments; I will greatly miss our contact, but remember it with love and affection for the rest of my days.”

Marianna (granddaughter): “Jo has been such a huge influence on my character; giving me her strength, her ear and a hug whenever I needed it. Jo can never leave me, because she is a part of me; and I will treasure that part of me, forever.”

Julian Thompson (brother): “She dealt with cancer with courage and grace; and she faced death in a way that I shall always remember. And I hope I do the same. I always was and always will remain, enormously proud of her.”

Henrietta Thompson (niece): “Jo meant a great deal to me. As my aunt, she was always very supportive of me throughout my life. I will miss her a great deal.”

Melanie Petre: “She was incredibly brave all her life whenever illness and adversity struck, a great wife to all her husbands and wonderful company… Jo was altogether very special and it was a great privilege to have been her friend.”

Michael Robson: “…it was a joyful privilege for our family to have heard and watched her piano playing during our visits to Trewarne in those early years.”

Uta Spizenberger: “I very often think of Jo. She was a very strong person and I am grateful to have known her, to have learnt so much from her and to have been a close friend and confidant.”

Eleanor Bailie (author & pianist): “I think she was the fullest personality with the most brimmingly full life, that I and perhaps many of us, have ever known. And what an incomparable gift of friendship.”

Dr. Bob Speer (physicist): “I defy you – I defy anybody to meet a more humane and wonderful, life enhancing human being, than Joanna Leach. It’s been a privilege, Jo!”

Martino Tirimo (concert pianist): “Her exceptional musicality was clear from the first moment, but what pleased me particularly was her strong individual expression.”

Roland & Pat Whiteside (neighbours): “We were fortunate to see Jo playing the piano. It was so special and what we heard exquisitely subtle and astonishingly thrilling, so that for me I felt possessed by the spirit of the moment which seems to endure in one’s body memory.”

Friends Reminisce

The Music Room at Shute

Moving from the cramped confinement of a terraced house in Fulham (the birthplace of Athene Records) to the Old Ballroom at Shute House, Joanna’s pianos were suddenly free to breath in a setting and a spacious acoustic of their own period.

Originally 50ft long by 16ft, the Ballroom was ideal for the line dances of the period. 20ft had been appropriated for a large bedroom and the stairs rose out of the kitchen. Our renovations were extensive: we recovered a further 9ft in length (by reducing the bedroom) and moved the stairs to rise out the of the hall.
Although the square pianos have moved on; the Steinway remains. As a recital room it now seats 35 people.

Joanna and Mike reminisce about their life together: how they met, their work, and love for each other.

PART ONE – How we met

The SoundMaestro, the digital audio editor; the first recordings; the death of her beloved husband David Turner; feelings of deepest grief and despair; the challenge of carrying on the record label.

PART TWO – “Completely saved from awful despair”

Working together; Mike’s first recordings for Athene; a changed life; the Kiss that changed lives and a new love;

PART THREE – A wonderful enlivening relationship

Working together; Mike moves in with Joanna; Jo and Mike are able to plan their lives together.

PART FOUR – Shute House

The move to Shute House; a major renovation; the shock of being diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer; dealing with the cancer; enjoying recitals in the music room.

Friends reminisce

Jeremy & Bianca Robson entertain in their kitchen as Joanna and Jeremy remember their holidays together as children and Jo talks of her lovers and husbands – two bad and two good.

Marianna (Jo’s granddaughter) & Joanna recall their wonderful relationship in these two conversations.

Tessa Davis and Joanna remember, over a pub lunch, their schooldays and how Tessa, now a magistrate, was expelled.

Henrietta Thompson (Jo’s neice) & Joanna talk about the family, their relationship and the trip to New York for the first performance of Schumann’s Variations on a theme of Schubert completed by Andreas Boyde; performed at the Pierpont Morgan Library, the owners of the original manuscript.

Dr. Bob Speer, a retired lecturer at Imperial College, tells his remarkable story of how Joanna saved and changed his life.

I remember Bob arrived early one morning in a very emotional state. He said he had been awake all night preparing in his mind how he would present his story – playing time 58 mins.