From the Isle Of Wight County Press, Friday 20th March 2009:
A pioneer of the Island folk revival scene, Roy Middlebrook, has died at St Mary’s Hospital, aged 72.
Roy was born on June 27, 1936, in Warminster, Wiltshire, and attended Trowbridge High School for Boys. He moved to the IW in 1954 after winning a student apprenticeship at Saunders Roe, in East Cowes.
Roy gained a degree in mechanical engineering from Southampton University, which he followed up with post-graduate studies in aeronautics at Cranfield College. On his return to the Island, he worked as part of the team at Highdown, near Alum Bay, developing the Black Knight rocket.
During the 1970s Roy took further studies in computing and served for many years as head of engineeering computing at Westland Aerospace until his retirement in 1996. He was a founder member and regular performer for the Island Folk Song Club, which met weekly at the Sloop Inn during the 1960s.
When Men of Wight Morris started in 1970, he embraced that tradition with enthusiasm – playing, dancing and teaching.
Roy was a skilful accordion player, had a keen interest in local and family history, and was chairman of the Friends of Carisbrooke Castle Museum, and vice-chairman of the IW Family History Society.
He married Barbara Ann Mew in 1961. She died of cancer in 2002. Roy found love again in later years with Di Harding, but she, too, fell victim to cancer late last year.
Roy was taken seriously ill at the end of February and died at St Mary’s Hospital on March 8.
Roy, who lived in Newport, is survived by his two children, Kay Arnold and Ian Middlebrook, and five grandchildren – Jonathan, Emily, and Jeremy Wells, and Alex and Zoe Middlebrook.