Andy Taylor - Obituary

Andrew James Taylor (BGS 1975-80)

Andy Taylor died on 27 October 2016, aged 53.

Andy was born on 2 September 1963. His father, Ralph was a paint sprayer and his mother, Martha was a hospital supervisor. His education started at Tower Road School before he moved on to Boston Grammar School.

He was a keen sportsman and a member of the sea cadets, where his interest in ships and engineering probably started.

After leaving BGS, Andy had a variety of jobs with local garages and other businesses. He even became a Master Butcher at the Co-Op.

Eventually he returned to engineering and travelled around the globe rebuilding and repairing ship engines. Simon Moore remembers him talking about rebuilding an oil tanker's engine in Ecuador - the piston was as large as a dustbin.

He then moved to Manchester and worked as a self-employed engineer on a large generation plant and often travelled to Ireland to repair generators.

The family decided to move to Spain soon after losing his mother to cancer and spent some time travelling before finally settling near Castell de Ferro where Andy raised goats and walked the mountains when he wasn't engineering.

In 2015 a fire broke out and Andy was referred to the local hospital with severe smoke inhalation. Unfortunately the X-Rays showed some dark areas on his lungs. Andy knew he had to return to the UK for treatment. In November 2015 Andy finally arrived back in Boston after a friend collected him and his belongings.

Andy sought work with his nephew, Simon Moore who has a haulage business, as a General Maintenance Engineer.

This helped Andy whilst undergoing investigations as to the cause of the shadows.

In early 2016 Andy was diagnosed with lung cancer. Treatment commenced during the summer. He was responding to Radiotherapy and chemotherapy and the future looked promising. However while the tumour in his chest had shrunk, the cancer had spread to most parts of his body.

The most serious cancer had reached his brain and a tumour had been growing which had already took a hold despite the treatment he had received. Andy bravely fought it over a period of approximately six weeks, finally losing the battle on 27 October 2016 aged 53.

Andy was an inspiration to many who he met. He had a free spirit and was a well educated individual. He had a keen interest in music, motorbikes, cooking, fishing, reading and writing. At the time of his death, he was writing a book, which the family hope to put together and publish. He was fascinated by how things worked and felt the need to research what interested him.

Andy wanted to be remembered by the bright colours he wore and the hats which he always wore. He said all I want to do is ensure I put a smile on people's faces and be remembered by being different.

Andy leaves two children from his first marriage: Adam and Natasha Taylor, and one child from his second: Andrew Austin. His sister, Rosalind Moore is a horse breeder and farmer in Boston.

This obituary was put together based on information provided by Simon Moore, who finished his tribute with the words: "God bless you Andy, we will remember you. X X X X".