Anthony John (Tony) Cessford, 1938 to 2010.
Tony was born in Corbridge Northumberland in July 1938: His earliest memory was sitting on the wall at the Mount overlooking the River Tyne, watching the bombs drop on Newcastle. The family moved back to the industrial town of South Shields where Tony was educated. He was one of only two boys from his primary school to pass the 11+ exam to go on to grammar school, and the only one to go on to University. Tony was very much a product of the grammar school system.
He studied Geology at Kings College Durham – now Newcastle University. He chose geology because it allowed him to be on the rocks – he was a mountaineer first, and a geologist second. However when he graduated there were only two jobs on offer – 3 years in Antarctica in a small hut with 10 other men or three years in East Africa prospecting for diamonds with De beers. Needless to say he chose the latter. His mother saw him off at the station, crying “don’t come back married!” He did, of course.
He worked in Tanganyika as it still was for two years and later in what was, then Bechuanaland – he saw the British flag come down both times. He was doing heavy mineral sampling for kimberlite indicator minerals, which entailed much walking but very little mountain climbing – so he took up big game hunting instead – in those days still a respectable occupation. He found one of the first diamonds in Botswana during panning for heavy minerals, a find that led ultimately to the discovery of Orapa Mine
At the end of his stint in the new Botswana, he gave himself two years to get an advanced degree at Wits, and a wife, or he would go back to the bush. Again, he managed to do both, taking a postgraduate honours degree at Wits in 1964, meeting Saranne and marrying just as he graduated. This signalled another change as he was offered a job through good friend and stratigrapher George Hart, to do some mapping in the Karoo Basin related to oil exploration.
So the newly married couple, after a brief honeymoon in the UK for Saranne to meet his family, bought a 15 foot caravan and a Jeep Gladiator pick-up, and headed into the Karoo – first to a farm, Abramskraal, some 50km from Beaufort West, and later in Graaf Reinet and Middelburg, where Tony did a lot more walking, mapping out some very subtle structures to try to find a location for a well to be drilled. A final stint was in Langebaan at a time when there were only a few cottages and a hotel there, and Cape Town where Tony and Saranne’s daughter Fiona was born.
At the end of the contract Tony received news that his father was very ill so the family relocated to England, and Tony found a job with a small American independent oil company – well sitting in the North Sea! During this period Duncan was born. From there on his career was entirely with American independents, and included stints in Ghana, London, Houston Texas for eight years, then back to London and Tunisia and finally Indonesia where Tony served as Exploration Manager for UTP Petroleum.
In 1988, having survived more than one economic downturn in the oil business, he had to take early retirement, and the family, with the children now grown, settled back in the UK, first in Newbury where Saranne got a job with Rio Tinto, and then when this proved to be not enough challenge, to a 30 acre farm on Exmoor where they raised sheep and poultry – and Saranne continued to work part time for Rio Tinto, until they returned to South Africa in 2002.
In Cape Town Saranne became involved with the Western Cape Branch of the Geological society, and strong-armed Tony into accepting the role of the Treasurer – a job which he did with his usual meticulousness. He served on the organising committee for the 2008 AAPG Convention and got the Branch’s books into really good shape
Tony
was a great list-maker and filer: He even made lists for Saranne who
very much resented it, but has to admit now that it was hugely
helpful – everything in apple-pie order and documented. Tony and
Saranne argued often and vehemently about rocks, and about politics
and pruning, but agreed on many other things. Something only a few
people will know is that Tony played the Northumbrian bagpipes, as
far as we know the only Northumbrian piper in Africa! He had many
enthusiasms, like stick making, long-bow archery, vegetable gardening
and latterly exploring the remoter parts of this country. He loved
his family, his dogs and his garden, and was very happy here in Cape
Town – he always said that he felt more alive in Africa than he
ever did in England.