Tony was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne, 23rd September 1942, the middle child of 5, before the family moved to Whitley Bay. He attended St Edward's primary school and St Cuthbert's grammar school in Newcastle. 

On leaving school, Tony worked in the Newcastle shipyards before traveling the world for a couple of years with the merchant navy, visiting places as far apart as Turku in Finland and Christchurch in New Zealand. He travelled through both the Panama and Suez canals.

After a brief stint working for his cousin's printing firm 'Edward Thompson' in Sunderland, Tony joined the RAF as a navigator on the helicopters. He said that the red-green colour blindness that prevented him from being a ship's captain was an advantage to a navigator. With the RAF he went to Cyprus, and Malta, Singapore and Anglesey. It was this posting to RAF Valley that led to him buying a house and settling on Anglesey to raise his family. Tony flew with several squadrons in the RAF, in particular No 103 squadron in Singapore and No 22 squadron in RAF Valley. As part of No 22, he participated in search and rescue missions over North Wales and the Irish sea. He once confessed to enjoying 'water-skiing' where he would be towed across the surface of the seas by the helicopter. 

Moving on from the RAF, Tony worked for the Holyhead Coastguard, and then in engineering for the Holyhead Boatyard. His workshop made some parts that were used in the Dinorwig power station. He then decided to go to university to train as a teacher, specialising in design and technology. He taught at the private school in Colwyn Bay run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate until it closed. 

His last official employment was as a copy editor for the Cambridge encyclopaedia, but retirement did not mean stopping or slowing down. A committed Catholic, Tony was active in St. Mary's parish life in Holyhead; he was a reader and a cantor, he built the Christmas Crib for many years and trained altar servers. He supported CAFOD, organising parish events, supporting campaigns and fundraising. This included walking part of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. He was involved with FairTrade promotion on Anglesey, and worked for the North Wales Justice and Peace Campaign. He participated in Churches Together in Holyhead. He joined protests in London for Jubilee debt relief, and climate change. More recently he was a member of Croeso Menai and helped to support the settlement of Syrian refugees on Anglesey. 

The sea and boats were always a large part of his life. He owned a number of small sailing boats over the years, taking them out at Trearddur Bay, or from Holyhead. He achieved an ambition to sail on Tall Ships, returning a couple of times as a volunteer with youth groups. He enjoyed the outdoor life, particularly hiking in Snowdonia.

Tony was musical; he learnt the violin at school and went on to play the clarinet, the guitar, the piano and the penny whistle. He sang with the St Mary's church choir and with the Holyhead festival choir. 

In 2021, Tony was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; a devastating, life-limiting condition that would severly affect his ability to breathe and to continue with the activities he loved. He died at home in the early hours of Monday, 25th July 2022.

A much loved husband, father, brother and friend who lived out his Catholic faith to the full, and will be missed by so many people.