The name Andar Holdings is short for Annett and Darling a Timaru Engineering firm that was founded by Dave Annett and Les Darling. They were both school mates and together they built from scratch an engineering firm that became one of the biggest manufacturers of wool scouring machinery in the world. The partnership between Dave Annett and Les Darling was one of the success stories of South Canterbury. After Les Darling died the business was sold to an Australian company who changed the company name to Andar Holdings Ltd.
Recording History
In 2008 I decided to write the life stories of Timaru people and one of the men I chose to write about was Dave Annett. I interviewed Dave on several occasions and took notes of what he told me. He gave me some photos of his life and we put them all together with his life story. His story included Lyalldale a country district in the South of Timaru where he was born. I also interviewd the firms long time foreman Ted Falvey and wrote his life story in with Daves.
I did not have enough money to publish a hard copy of the book so I went door knocking to raise funds. I called on Andar at their head office in Timaru and asked them for a donation so I could publish the life story of one of their founders.
They gave me $2 and asked me to sign for it.
New Owners
I see that Andar has been sold to millionaire Brian Kenton and his partner Gary Cross at Wallace and Cooper Engineering Ltd. I did make an attempt that year to contact Brian Kenton because he also has a success story that should be recorded for future generations. Unfortunatly I could not get to see Mr Kenton because he lives in a castle hidden behind Fort Knox.
Dave Annetts Life Story
Daves life story along with 11 other people I wrote about that year are buried in an unpublished book titled unsung heroes. That book will get printed when I can find some Timaru businesses with enough money to match the Andar Holdings donation of $2.
