In Memory of Andy Shaw

The Andy Shaw Foundation

About Andy

Andy (or Andrew to his family!) was born in St Helens on 1st August 1966 and lived with his parents David and Theresa and younger sister, Lisa, in the Thatto Heath area.  As a child Andy attended St. John Vianney RC primary school followed by 5 years at St Edmund Campian Secondary School and 2 years at West Park Grammar School where he completed his ‘A’ Levels.  In 1985 Andy went to Liverpool University to study Economic History, graduating in July 1988 with a B.A. Honours (class 2:1) degree.

From an early age Andy was introduced to rugby league and quickly became hooked on St Helens, which was inevitable as any other team would not be acceptable to his family!  This is when his collection of programmes and shirts began.  Andy was a hoarder which resulted in many boxes of rugby souvenirs being stored in the attic and garage where they remain today!

Andy moved to Dartford, Kent, to work for HM Customs & Excise at the ferry terminal before transferring to the VAT side of Customs and worked in the West End of London.  Whilst living in Dartford he met  and married , Sue, and their daughter, Kerry, was born in 1997.

Sadly their marriage did not last and Andy returned to the North and his beloved Saints, eventually settling down in Warrington.  Andy secured a job with Deloitte, one of the top 4 accountancy firms in the UK.  Andy also had a brief spell working with BDO Stoy Hayward before returning to Deloitte in 2007 to become their Director of VAT for the North West. At Deloitte, Andy proved to be an inspirational leader.

Andy’s return to the North included a new marriage to his wife, Rachel, and he became step father to Rebecca.  Andy and Rachel completed their family with the arrival of their son, Alex, in 2000.  The arrival of their grandson, Ryan, in 2009 was unexpected but very welcome, even if it did add to the grey hairs!!

Andy was a totally dedicated, generous, caring and loving family man who provided a secure and happy home for his family.   Andy was a real people person, always making sure he did his utmost to help others develop and achieve their potential. Andy pushed himself daily, he took great pride in his work and his family, Andy settled for nothing but the best of himself.

These qualities were reflected in the way he became involved with the coaching of  the local junior football team in which his son Alex plays , in Warrington.  Andy was an assistant coach for Crosfields Under 10s and loved every minute of it, despite the heated discussions with Alex on the way home from training about what hadn’t gone well in Alex’s opinion!

Andy applied himself as he did with everything, committed to achieving the best for the team and helping and supporting the boys achieve their best, supporting each other and to work as a team.  Andy was sole coach for one of the league games and he had planned for days what he was going to say to each player, giving them all individual tasks within the game and getting them to support each other.  The team had no subs and was a man down for the game but still won the game.  He got such a buzz out of seeing the team working together.

Andy had such an impact on the coaches, parents and players that they have created an annual Andy Shaw Award for showing great determination and giving 100% commitment to the team.

Tragically, despite being fit and healthy, Andy died on 19th June 2011 from a heart attack at the young age of 44 and he is missed deeply by his family and all who knew him.

The Andy Shaw Foundation was set up in June 2011 with the help of The Charity Service and Deloitte and is a sub trust of The Charity Service, Registered Charity No. 1011293.

The Andy Shaw Foundation has been created for Andy’s family and friends (and anyone else who would like to help) to raise funds in Andy’s name for donation to charities that Andy would have liked to support or has supported in the past.  Currently these are The Christie Hospital, the cancer hospital in Manchester and The HoneyRose Foundation, a national charity based in St Helens (Andy’s home town) that organises special days for terminally ill people who are over 40.

Various fund raising events have already taken place and more are planned for the coming months.  Andy’s wife, Rachel, is currently putting together a website for The Andy Shaw Foundation so that you can see the events, the amounts raised, who the funds have been donated to and what has been achieved by the beneficiaries.