It is an apt maxim for a man who credits his personal mindset for surviving an encounter with an aggressive cancer in 1988. Now 72, Andrews has enjoyed an active life in New Zealand’s rural economy, including six years as the president of South Canterbury Federated Farmers. He recently published his autobiography, and is donating $5 from each copy sold to the Cancer Society.
Andrews grew up on a 288ha sheep farm at Glenavy, on the Otago/ Canterbury boundary, land granted to his grandfather in a government ballot in 1898.
He took over running the farm from his father in 1976.
He was South Canterbury Feds chairman from 1997 to 2002 and “enjoyed every minute of being involved”, attending meetings and conferences and representing rural interests to the powers in Wellington.
A keen advocate of irrigation, Andrews’ book records the changes wrought by getting water onto dry ground, “a big occasion, when we had our first 20 acres border-dyked. You would have dry paddocks all round, but you’d have white cover and ryegrass where the water was.”
Andrews and his wife Janette moved in 2002 to a smaller intensive sheep farm near Geraldine, where a chance meeting led to a second career driving school and tour buses, for 13 years, for Ritchies Coachlines.
He also served then as a district councillor.
Having decided to retire to a property on the flat, the couple are now on 8ha just east of Ashburton, where they run “60 sheep, two rams, and three tractors”.
His favourite is Dexta -- a 1959 Fordson Dexta he had restored after picking it up at auction in 1990. Also still with them is ‘Burley’, the name of the Glenavy farm, which now graces the gateway of their Ashburton property.
Andrews dedicates his autobiography to the memory of his older brother Lyndsay, who died of leukaemia at age 21 in 1961. Andrews’ own brush with cancer – non-Hodgkins lymphoma – came at age 44.
“In 1988 I was out fishing on the Waitaki River with my brother-in-law and I threw a line out and felt a huge lump under my arm, right down my ribcage.”
The following morning he went out to let the dogs out and could barely make it back the 100m to the house.
“My bones and joints ached like you wouldn’t believe. Every gland in my body swelled. It happened that bloody quick.”
A long and difficult course of chemotherapy followed. Andrews believes he would not have survived without his personal determination. One anecdote in the book relates how he told a hospital chaplain who dared to ask if he had his affairs in order, to “bugger off”.
Andrews’ book is as much a history of farming in the district as an autobiography, filled not just with family photos, but also clippings and historical records going back to the early days of the Glenavy settlement.
A keen cricketer, he has even included his own assessments on the strengths and weaknesses of a few of NZ’s more prominent international players.
The book is self-published with the help of Hannah Leech, a Canterbury University law student he met as a schoolgirl on the Geraldine school bus run; she suggested he write his life story, and helped with transcription and production.
- The book is printed by Print & Copy, Oamaru. Copies are available at some Farmlands and PGG Wrightson outlets, or by contacting Print & Copy at www.perfectprint.co.nz or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
