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Andrew's Web Pages
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Welcome to Andrew Finch's website. Regrettably I have got rather behind on keeping this page up to date, but recently I thought that I ought to get down to it. On these pages you will find various things in which I am actively involved. This includes photo galleries of organisation reunions which I am coordinating, on behalf of my previous work colleagues, and other aspects of my hobbies (military modelling, wargames, and photography). Follow the links to the various pages, some of which lead to other websites. I spent all my working life working on the international freight side of the railway industry, first for the Shipping and International Services Division of British Rail, after that in the Railfreight Division for Railfreight International, thereafter for Railfreight Distribution, prior to and during privatisation, after which we were absorbed by EWS. I spent a lot of my life living and working in Germany, between 1972 and 1989, and have tried to stay in touch with my old colleagues. In 2006 we finally got round to organising a reunion of as many as we could get together. We met up at London Bridge and had a wander round the Borough Market, an excellent site for 'foodies' (like me). After that we adjourned to the Anchor on Bankside and had a jolly good meal and natter. Some of the photos from this event can be found by following the like above to the 'Old Fahrts' Photo gallery. On my return to UK I worked for the rest of my 'career' until 2004 in London, first in Paddington then in Islington. An opportunity arose in 2003/4 to man a lifeboat and row away from full time employment. I found myself manning the oars with what was (or those who were) the remains of the department I had worked in for these final years. We formed ourselves into a loose organisation who have a reunion every so often, in order to keep in touch. We have a diary of dates for these meetings which those of us who have bad memories can scan to find the dates of the next reunion. Follow the links to the 'Old Scrotes' page. So far we have avoided having mugshots in a photo gallery. Recently the German (Freight) railways purchased my old employer, so some of my ex-life has turned full circle. I wonder how UK staff will cope with being under hunnish management. As to what I am doing in day to day life, well, washing, ironing, shopping come as standard. A lot of my free time is spent devoted to a small business I run with a friend, publishing wargames rules, for simulating or re-fighting military encounters from history using miniatures... and no, it is not exactly how it was portrayed in 2006 in "New Tricks" on BBC1. We have concentrated for reasons which escape me, perhaps it just happened, on naval and air subjects. This may well be because the current offerings when we started were unsatisfactory. Most people only have restricted time for their hobbies, and this formed part of our philosophy when it came to designing and writing rule systems for play. The aim is to provide a game, lasting no more than 3-4 hours (an afternoon), giving the right feel, and a tangible result, so players have a sense of winning or losing. Part of the fun (though sometimes the work is tedious) is converting real life data into a game mechanism so that a given aircraft operates on the table in the same way it operated in, say, the Battle of Britain. For a bit more info on what we do, go to the website www.aandagames.co.uk for a look. On a more personal note again, sadly I lost my dad in 2006. This has meant that I have been more involved in day to day matters with mum, who soldiers on at present with house and garden, though we have plans for the future to make that part of her life easier. This page was last updated on 05/07/2007 |