Anthony Ronald Sewell (18 Dec 1946 - 7 Dec 2025)

OXFORD
Tony was a demob baby. He arrived at the start of one of the worst winters on record, one that brought a war battered country to its knees. He survived bronchitis thanks to the newly founded NHS. His parents lived with his Gran on Marston Street for the first 18 months of his life, before moving into a flat on Iffley Road. Tony passed the 11 plus and went to Southfield Grammar. It was a very traditional school intent on turning out solid middleclass citizens, and he didn't enjoy it very much. Rugby was the saving grace and he continued playing for the ‘old boys’ for some years. He was channelled into sciences for A level, dropped out of college, and after several unrewarding jobs, retrained as a computer programmer. He really took to this relatively new discipline and much of his time since has been spent ‘synchronising my devices’ and other such mysteries.

READING
Tony and I met at a Tramps and Tarts party in November 1979. He saw me walk up the stairs in black fish net stockings and suspender belt and decided to chat me up. We discovered we both loved literature, and he wooed me with the promise of going to Stratford to see Twelfth Night. By the following Spring, we both knew we didn’t want to be with anyone else. Tony was by then a computer programmer and analyst for Berkshire County Council. He’d meet me after work, and did many dodgy late night journeys back to Oxford, until we bought our little two-up two down terraced house in Reading. For the first 15 years of our time together, poetry played a big part – reading it, listening to it, and writing it. We started up a poetry writing group, with established poet Robyn Bolam as a member. I can’t find any of Tony’s poems, so in my memory they will always be witty, insightful, and beautifully crafted.

YORKSHIRE
Tony decided to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition, and with Robyn’s references and encouragement, came to York University to study English Literature. He fell in love with York, but after he finished his degree, my work meant a move to Bridlington made sense. Soon after, Helena was born, and Tony became a devoted stay at home dad. As a very young child, Helena was obsessed with dinosaurs, and that led to us all becoming interested in fossils, and we spent a lot of time enjoying fossil hunting along Yorkshire’s Jurassic Coast. Tony grew to love nature and wildlife, especially birds. But he was a city boy at heart, and we returned to York, where he was in his element, enjoying theatre, art, concerts and films, until first the pandemic, then failing health, limited what he could do. He'd always loved music, but it became vital to him then.
Partner Shirley, Daughter Helena, Brother Ian