Tony was born on 9th August 1934 in Clapham, London and shortly afterwards the family moved to Norwood Green in the London Borough of Ealing.  In 1939 when the world was on the brink of World War II Tony sustained a serious injury when he fell off a swing and wounded his head, which later became infected and led to septicaemia.  He spent his fifth birthday in hospital and was given the ‘Last Rites’ as he was in real danger of dying.  But God helped this beautiful boy to recover, for which we are all truly grateful, as this kind, sensitive man, who always cared for others before himself, brought a lot of love, joy and fun into many lives during his lifetime.
Tony had two older siblings, Pat and Bill and two younger sisters Anne and Delphine.   In the 1940’s there were very few cars around and the children were able to play freely on the roads and frequently enjoyed a game of football with their friends.  A favourite nearby haunt was Osterley Park, a Georgian estate with a large beautiful lake where they all used to go swimming as well as climbing and swinging from trees.  When we were living in London, we spent a day with his grandson Angelo looking around the area where Tony grew up.  We visited his childhood home and school as well as spending time in Osterley Park where the photograph of Tony and Angelo was taken by the lake.  Each week Tony and his siblings would go to Saturday morning pictures at the nearby Southall cinema.  The programme included comedy classics, cowboy and adventure films as well as cartoons but for Tony the best part was when the organist rose up from the pit in front of the stage and the audience of children joined him in a sing-song. Similarly, the clearest memory he had of the time he spent as a member of the Woodcraft Folk was of sitting round a campfire with his friends singing. Tony enjoyed helping his father grow the vegetables which the family needed to supplement the scarcity of food during the 40's. Regularly father and son would set off from home en route to their nearby allotment, with Tony pushing the wheelbarrow.  This interest in gardening continued throughout his life with a good deal of his spare time spent working in the large garden which he had re-designed. Tony left school just one month before his 14th birthday and began his working life in the accounts department, but before long he began taking evening classes in college in order to gain qualifications as a surveyor.  He benefited from the practical experience he had gained with his father, Henry, who was an architect/surveyor as he was always eager to accompany dad on site visits whenever possible.  
In November 1952 he began the mandatory two years of National Service.  During his initial training period at Loughborough Tony noticed that applications were invited for servicemen to sit an exam to assess if they were suitable for training as wireless operators in the Royal Signals.  In spite of Tony’s education having been severely interrupted firstly by his childhood accident and then by World War II, Tony passed the exam - it seems that his speedy mind carried him through.  He served with the regiment for sixteen months and spent the majority of this time in Famagusta, Cyprus where he formed a strong friendship with Gordon and Ivan, who in 1958 was his best man when he married Stella who he was to enjoy 40 happy years of marriage with before her untimely death in Mombasa whilst on a Christmas vacation in Kenya.  Tony was very keen on Swing and Dixieland music, especially the band led by Sid Phillips, and sometimes he and his buddies would switch their wireless sets over to the World Service and listen to Sid Phillips instead of the Russians!!!   While serving in Cyprus he became a member of the Yacht Club and discovered the joy of sailing.  Later, when he lived on Hayling Island, he acquired his own boat and was frequently seen speeding across the water as well as water-skiing with his friend behind the wheel of the motor boat.  A few years later when the family moved to Famagusta the boat naturally went with them. 
After his discharge from the army Tony completed his surveyor course and accordingly gained his qualifications. Before long he started his own roofing company, Alpine Roofing, as well as collaborating with his brother in an advertising business, which he eventually had to leave as his own business expanded.  Tony remained involved with this roofing company until 2017, when he was forced to stop work due to his cancer diagnosis.  But his wonderful diverse working life involved a variety of other ventures which included a shopfitting company, as well opening the first ‘night spot’ in Famagusta, called the Perroquet, during the time that the family lived on the beautiful island of Cyprus.  Sadly, this was brought to an end when the Turks invaded in 1974.  Furthermore, he assisted his son Dean for many years with his events management company and was given a Platinum Sales Award by Atlantic Records to commemorate the sale of more than 1,000,000 copies of the Valotte album by Julian Lennon, who was at the time managed by Dean
Many aspects of Tony’s life seem to have been shaped by his father’s experiences, particularly their shared interest in horse racing.  Tony often accompanied his dad to the racetracks where he learnt the principles of betting, some of which he passed onto his grandson Angelo when he joined us on a visit to Sandown.  In his early 20’s Tony and his friend Colin operated a bookmakers’ pitch, once a week after work, at Romford Greyhound Stadium and later in life he also made a living as a professional gambler.  But Tony’s main interest was horse racing and this was something that we enjoyed together for over 19 years.  Up to the arrival of covid-19 we regularly attended race meetings where we usually came out with more cash than when we went in!!  Tony’s zest for life was beyond measure. During the London Olympics in 2012 we went to see the cycle road race and swimming events in the Serpentine as well as the Paralympics at the Excel and Olympic Stadium where we saw David Weir win gold.  But the highlight was having seats for the finals of the beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade on Tony’s 78th birthday. It was a beautiful warm evening and initially we saw the bronze medal match between Latvia and the Netherlands followed by the final between Brazil, whose supporters were in true party mode and Germany. We both supported Brazil as we wanted to have fun and join in with their revelries, but unfortunately Germany won. Our greatest shared passion was music and dance.  Again, the musical seeds had been sown by his parents.  His mother was a competent pianist and Tony used to sit with his parents on Sundays and listen to the radio broadcast of light classical music by the Palm Court Orchestra from The Grand Hotel Eastbourne.  Shortly after we first met Tony saw his first ballet, Romeo and Juliet, at Covent Garden and I still remember how excited he was in the interval as he clutched his programme and eagerly read the programme notes to find out what was going to happen in the next act.  This was the first of many unforgettable visits to the ‘Garden’ as well as numerous to Sadler’s Wells and several other theatres where we saw a variety of Classical as well as modern dance performances, most notably that of the brilliant and innately musical choreographer Mark Morris whose work Tony admired very much.   Another of Tony’s favourites was the André Rieu Orchestra who we saw at the O2 arena in 2012.   We have several DVDs of Rieu’s wonderful outdoor Maastricht concerts which Tony regularly watched and marvelled at the extraordinary way the large audience, as well as those in the nearby cafes, responded to the music.  He loved to see people joyfully dancing and Rieu’s performances always created a party atmosphere. As a young man Tony regularly went to variety shows at the Chiswick and Shepherds Bush Empires and during our wonderful life together we saw over 25 musicals and many memorable plays and comedies in the West End and also at Chichester Festival Theatre as well as the local theatres in Brighton and Eastbourne. But the times that were special for Tony were those performances shared with his grandson Angelo, most notably The Lion King and the War Horse as well as the lively pre-Christmas concerts held at the Albert Hall where we all had a good sing-song before getting on the bus and going to see the Christmas lights.  In September 2015 Tony’s youngest sister Delphine, whose home was in Australia, visited London and spent a day with us which began in Hyde Park with a walk by the Serpentine, and finished with Dinner before going on to see Imelda Staunton in the show Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre.  Little did we know that this was going to be the last time that they would see each other as tragically she died unexpectedly in the summer of 2017 at her home in Australia after undergoing recent double hip surgery.  
Tony’s 85th birthday was celebrated with a stay at the lovely Park House Hotel in Midhurst during which time we had a day at a Goodwood race meeting, followed by a matinee performance the next day at CFT of Oklahoma.  On the final day, which was his actual birthday, we travelled back to Brighton for his chemo treatment where we celebrated his special day with the wonderful oncology team at the Nuffield.  There were treats for the staff and music in his room, and to the amazement of our Macmillan nurse Elaine, Tony got up and bobbed around to the music whilst still connected to the intravenous drip.  Elaine said that seeing Tony and me dancing together while he was receiving treatment intravenously was the pinnacle of her nursing career. Many people in Eastbourne who saw us dancing together at the Bandstand as well as the Grand and Langham Hotels will remember Tony’s wonderful stylish dancing.  He loved to move to music and one of his favourite nights out was when the Brendan Shine Band played at the Winter Gardens on St Patrick’s night.  Brendan’s music was infectious and the songs that he sang had a storyline which touched hearts.  Tony’s 70th birthday treat was a trip to the Emerald Isle where we visited my mother’s home in Limerick and then travelled down to the Gleneagles Hotel, Killarney where the birthday was celebrated in a very lively fashion with Brendan and the band.  Ten years later, on his 80th Birthday, we made the first of many visits to Warner’s Bembridge Coast Hotel, where we leisurely walked along the unspoilt beach as well as ‘chilling out’ on a sun lounger in the beautiful grounds overlooking the Solent.  But the highlight of these holidays was the opportunity to dance every night to the brilliant music offered by Stuart’s Band New Horizon and their lead vocalist Anyisia.  As Tony was always keen to get the party started, we were often the first to take to the floor and sometimes the last to leave.  Tony is a great fan of Country and Western music and one of his favourite guest artists was Cowboy Joe who he frequently asked to sing a much-loved song, Crystal Chandeliers.  Just a few weeks before he died Tony said he was looking forward to getting back dancing with me. Tragically, that was not to be but during the nineteen and a half years we spent with each other we were fortunate to have experienced the true joy of dancing together with spontaneity and a complete lack of inhibition. My beautiful husband was my perfect partner in so many ways.  

Quite soon after Tony and I met we decided to divide our time between the south coast and London. We were married on 9th December 2005 and towards the end of 2015 we left London and came to live in Eastbourne where we spent many blissful sunny days together at our beach hut, which often finished with Pimm’s and snacks on the beach with our friends, Carol, Sylvia and Joanna.  But, sadly in January 2017 Tony underwent an emergency operation for colon cancer.  Even though the operation was successful secondary cancers were found in the liver which could not be treated with thermal-based ablative methods as they were too close to blood vessels.  Tony was given just six months to live unless he began chemo, which did not appeal to him.  Believing that there just had to be something that could be done to help my beloved Tony I began an intense period of research which was made possible due to the kindness of Neil and Wendy Kirby, the owners of the Langham Hotel.  By moving into their hotel, it gave me time to explore various cancer treatments and holistic therapies with the added advantage that chef Michael prepared the most wonderful meals for us during our stay.  The day that I found Professor Edward Leen, who had pioneered NanoKnife treatment in the UK changed our lives. By the end of March both lesions in the liver had been successfully ablated using NanoKnife and the following month we discovered Dr Kate James who believes in an Integrative Medical Approach.  She put together a programme for Tony centred around the use of immunomodulants which included herbal and mushroom extracts.  In May Dr Andy Webb, an oncologist in Brighton accepted Tony as a patient for which we are truly grateful. This kind-hearted man focussed on Tony’s quality of life and so for the next twelve months he simply oversaw Tony progress, advising further ablations where necessary, but refraining from starting chemotherapy until June 2018.  On the whole Tony coped very well with the two years of treatment and apart from two chest infections this year lived a happy active life.  For the past thirteen years Tony and I shared a weekly Pilates class with the inspirational teacher Mary Thornton who helped Tony in a truly holistic way.  Even when there was snow on the ground and we were living in London we commuted to Eastbourne just to work with Mary.  But life would have been very different after Tony’s cancer diagnosis in 2017 if God had not helped us find Ed, Kate and Andy who made it possible for us to live with cancer ‘our way’

So now perhaps it is appropriate to bring my wonderful husband’s life story to a close with these well-known lyrics

‘And now the end is near
And so, I face the final curtain
My friends, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I travelled each and every highway
But more, much than this
I did it my way’
Paul Anka
 
Yes, you did my sweet man but always with a smile on your lovely face and love in your heart. 
 
‘Keep love in your heart
A life without it is like a sunless
garden when the flowers are dead.
The consciousness of loving and
being loved brings a warmth
and a richness to life that
nothing else can bring’
Oscar Wilde
 
My dearest darling Tony, love is the gift you gave to us all and you will live forever in our hearts.