Hello.My name is Andy. Born Andrew Kingsley David Thurlow, a mouthful, I’ve been Andy from as far back as I can remember. The only time ‘Andrew’ was used was mostly when I was in trouble with my parents. Which to be truthful was not too often, because although it seems cool to tell everybody how difficult to handle you were as a youngster and student, I tried hard to do my best at home and school.So enamoured was I with learning and education that I became a teacher and thoroughly enjoyed that life-long profession.My parents were a bit different from the norm at the time. In the 1950s it was more acceptable for women to run things domestically at home. Not for my Mum, though, because she was a farmer. She found work in fruit packing sheds until she could run her own meat bird production farm and cattle stud. There was even a booklet out at the time featuring my mum and encouraging females to take on farming as a career.Contrast that to my Dad, who, when males often stopped at pubs after work and then came home to dinner on the table, was a sensitive new-age guy. A returned WW2 plane-spotter, he was an artist, writer, white-collar worker, who would come home from his office and cook for the family. When fathers were often discouraged from exposing their sensitive side, Dad was happy to talk about anything, including the war, and he and I were very close.My parents had first met on the island of Herm, off the coast of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Married in 1950, I was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey’s capital and when I was 5, we moved back to the English mainland. Unable to settle, our family became ‘Ten Pound Poms’ and migrated to Victoria, Australia. I went to school there and then across to Adelaide, South Australia to attend university. Here I boarded at a Lutheran Teacher’s College under the directorship of Pastor Rolph Mayer. As a teacher I loved to be creative, so when I retired I felt I needed a project. My wife’s nephew Kieran Modra was a Paralympian of some note, and he would often tell me about the difficulties and drama involved in his rise to the podium. I asked him if I could write his biography, which stirred up a latent love of crafting a book. ‘Kieran Modra: The Way I See It’ was launched in a gala affair by His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC , Governor of South Australia, in Adelaide.So impressed at the Lutheran Teacher’s College in Adelaide with the leadership style and personalities of Rolph and Margaret Mayer, that I asked them if I could write their life stories. Rolph used relationship and esprit de corps to run this wonderful establishment, and so my next biography was titled ‘A Singular and Outrageous Blessing: The Story of Rolph and Margaret Mayer’.Immanuel College in Adelaide approached me soon after to write the biography of one of their beloved teachers, and so ‘Heart to Heart: The Margaret Ames Story’ came to life.But I’ve always had a yen to write a novel. And so here it is – ‘Painting Martha’. I’m not going to tell you what it’s about, other than to say it was my way of honouring my parents and their wonderful stories, and of writing about issues in my life, and the places I’ve lived in.I now live in and love the Barossa Valley in South Australia and am married to Marlene. Both of us are Christians. We have 2 children. Besides writing, my other hobbies include reading, sport, travel, red wine, social cycling and coffee-ing, vegetable growing, and handyman projects. I started a community social cycling and coffee-ing club in the Barossa called ‘Sprocket Rockets’, and another called ‘Hugamugs’ for coffee-drinkers only. Both clubs are going gangbusters!I hope you enjoy all of my books. There will be more, God willing. Read more about this authorRead less about this author