Andy seen here with his wife Liz and son Gareth and displaying his MBE medal.
Andy has been awarded an M.B.E. in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to the community of Caterham. He has been volunteering for many years, the first time he started as a 10 year old offering to help serve school dinners to the infants – there was a bonus as he got extra puddings! He eventually became a Cub Scout leader, helped at a youth club and joined the management committee of a boys club. All this was in Croydon, where he lived at the time.
When he moved to Caterham he stopped all these activities for a few years, then joined Caterham Round Table. He represented them on the local Carnival Committee and six years later he became the Carnival Chairman as well as the London/Surrey Area Round Table Chairman. Out of the blue he was asked to become the District Commissioner for Caterham Scouts, despite only having been a leader in Croydon for a couple of years. He represented the Scout association on various committees and helped organise many events such as the Millennium camp, the Scouting Centenary camp and the World Scout Jamboree.
Andy was General Manager of Tandridge Voluntary Service Council (TVSC) for several years and then became a Trustee of TVSC. He joined the Dial-a-Ride board in 2001,went on to become company secretary and has been a part-time driver since 2006. He chaired the Caterham Millennium committee, joined the Caterham Barracks Community Trust, joined the board of the Tandridge Community Fund and became a member of Caterham Rotary Club. He is also a Director of The Soper Hall Community Centre, in Caterham and a member of The Caterham Community Partnership In 2008 Andy was appointed Chairman of the Caterham Festival which has gone on to win local and national awards.
In 2012 he became a London Ambassador for the Olympics, spending six weeks as a manager at Gatwick Airport. He was also a dancer in the Olympic Closing Ceremony. He was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship in 2010. He has commented:
“To be awarded an M.B.E. is the highlight of my life. I have received hundreds of cards and messages of support and it is really fantastic. Caterham is a great place to live, lots of things happen here. There are some very good people here doing great things for the town.”
