Tragic loss inspires sisters to live life to the full

IT is nearly a year since Sarah Royle plunged to her death from a balcony in Singapore but the loss for her sisters is as raw as the day it happened.

Little is known about the circumstances surrounding the bubbly 31-year-old’s death, other than she had been watching the England win over Slovenia in the World Cup and died from multiple injuries including a blood clot on her brain.

An inquest into her death has been opened and adjourned.

For her sisters, Johanna and Premsa, it is an agonising wait for answers. The pair flew out to Singapore when the accident happened and were at Sarah’s side when she died, despite doctors battling to save her life in an eight-hour operation.

“She was in a top hospital. They did everything they could for her, but she died.” The sisters plan to return to Singapore for the reconvened inquest, but have no idea when that might be.

“It’s like a living hell. We’re desperate. I really feel like I’m living a lie. I feel like I’m trying to pretend everything is OK but I’m just try to get through each day, cramming in lots of stuff to stay busy.”

The sisters, whose parents are both dead, have only heard sketchy details from Singapore police – information which leaves many unanswered questions.

“We know she was found on a residential site. Police confirmed that she was with an English boy and an Australian boy throughout the night – but they’ve never come forward.”

It is these unanswered questions which haunt the Todmorden sisters. They have appointed solicitors to represent them in court when the inquest is eventually held, although they have no idea when that will be.

“If it had happened over here we would have some idea of where the police investigation was going. Apparently they have completed the police investigation in Singapore but we have no idea what they have found. They seem to do things very differently over there.”

With massive support from family and friends, the sisters managed to raise enough money to have Sarah’s body brought back to England and her funeral was attended by 200 friends and family. Sarah loved the sea especially sharks, her nickname was Sarah Sharky after the creatures.

“We hired a boat off Bridlington and scattered her ashes at sea as we knew that was what she would have wanted,” says Jo.

Sarah had moved to Australia 18 months earlier from her home in Hebden Bridge and worked in pubs and clubs before an oversight meant her visa ran out and she had to travel to Singapore to sort the necessary paper work.

She had been there two weeks when the accident happened.

“She loved Australia. She’d met a boyfriend and I really think she’d planned to stay out there, but then the unimaginable happened.”

Jo and Premsa are now trying to rebuild their lives.

“When Sarah died, our lives changed forever, and we have changed the whole course of our lives to adapt to the severe loss we feel,” says Jo.

“We were so close. When we were little we’d play the most amazing games. We thought we would all grow old together.”

Sarah’s death made both sisters re-evaluate their lives.

“Our attitude is you only live once and no-one knows how long that could be for”

Premsa has given up her stable job with an insurance company in Manchester to open a shop, Enchanting Wood, in Todmorden.

“She wouldn’t have done that before Sarah’s death. She has small children and it is a big risk for her, but she realised that it was something she wanted to do.”

Premsa’s shop stocks all things wood, including work by one of Sarah’s old boyfriends.

Jo has taken all her talents of communicating, organising and enthusing, and put them into launching Jo Royle Events.

“When I think of Sarah and my business I can almost hear her say. ‘Wow, Jo Royle Events – Its amazing, totally you!’ with all her face lit up. She would walk into Premsa’s new shop, Enchanting Wood, and be just that – totally enchanted, she would squeal with delight and say ‘Premsa it is a grotto of goodies, so creative - amazing.’

“She would be so proud of us and so happy we were focusing on good positive goals. If she can try to be happy and we can try to be happy, until we are all together again, then this is a comfort to us all and it will help get us through it.”

Jo got the idea for her business after organising a number of fund-raising events to raise enough cash for her and Premsa to travel back to Singapore.

“I organised a charity fashion show in November 2010 – ‘Singapore for Sarah Fashion Show’. This was to help raise money to enable us to travel back to Singapore to attend Sarah’s inquest. After this third successful fashion show people kept coming up to her afterwards and saying ‘you should do this as a job, you are brilliant!’”

This show was the third main fashion show Jo had organised. The first two were for Animals Asia to help rescue a “moon bear” (Asiatic black bear) from the daily torture of living on a bile farm in China (where the animals are kept in cages to harvest bile for use in Chinese medicine). Jo launched the first show “I Can’t Bare it” with the help of her late sister Sarah back in 2006, raising £1,600. Jo had another “I Can’t Bare It” show in 2008 at Todmorden Town Hall and again raised another £1,400.00. Sarah was living abroad in Spain for the summer and flew back especially to model in the show, as she strongly believed in the plight of the moon bears.

Sarah’s death made Jo decide that she should go for it and launch Royle Events which specialises in working within the fashion industry for charities, promoting up-coming designers and for corporate networking.

To mark the launch of Royle Events, on Friday, Jo is organising a fashion show, using her other business, model agency “Real Runways”.

The event will raise money and awareness for Epilepsy Action. “This encompasses a local issue to raise awareness of how epilepsy in a young child, affects two local parents dramatically,” explains Jo.

“Joel Booth, with partner Joanne Booth, is bravely going to speak about his son, Jake, who suffers terrible seizures, and their quest to find the right medication and also funding for his day care which has recently suffered due to government cuts.

“There will also be an official speaker from Epilepsy Action explaining what they do and how they help people with epilepsy. Sarah was also a very good friend of Joanne.”

Jo says throwing herself into her business, and working 70 hours a week helps her deal with the grief she feels.

“I still struggle sometimes to comprehend that she is gone. I still think she is in Australia and will walk through the door. It is hard to explain to her nieces and nephews what has happened. My son Harley is three-and-a-half and he remembers Auntie Sarah. I buy a little shark book from her for his birthday every year. He knows she is dead and he remembers going on the ‘pirate ship’ and scattering her ashes, but I don’t want him to forget her. She was such an amazing person.”

JO’S CHARITY FASHION SHOW

JO Royle Events is organising a fund-raising fashion show on May 20 to launch its Real Runways modelling package and raise money for Epilepsy Action.

Joel and Joanne Booth will speak about son Jake, who suffers with epilepsy, at the event sponsored by inspired-it.net, James Shepherd of Hebden Bridge and Enchanting Wood. There will also be representatives from the charity Epilepsy Action at the event which showcases some of the area’s top designers. The doors open at 7pm show starts 7.30pm at Border Rooms, Venue Nightclub, Todmorden. email [email protected].