Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 63

INTERVIEW

shock: “It was empty, then
around 10am all the local boys
would run to the station with
prams and trollies to collect
people from the trains. There
was suddenly a wave of people
coming round the corner, like a
Tsunami!”
If that seems a lifetime away
– and it is a mere 42 years –
Andy used to love listening
to a colleague of his who had
in his youth been a drover.
Frank Griffiths used to walk
from Shanklin to Yarmouth,
get the ferry to Lymington,
bring cattle back to Yarmouth,
and walk them back to the
slaughterhouse at Shanklin.
“He was like a living history

book,” recalls Andy. “He
taught me different parts of the
trade. You never stop learning.”
One of his most important
lessons came about when he
moved into the slaughtering
side of the business, with a
charismatic boss called Reg
Davey, who took the business
to new levels. “People think
slaughtering is cruel, but
animals have to be well looked
after. If the animal is stressed
the adrenalin makes the meat
inedible.”
It wasn’t all work and no play.
In the 1960s Andy was out
several nights a week playing
guitar with a rock band, The
Escorts. He earned more than
he did at his day job, for which
he had to get up early. “That’s
when I learnt to be busy,” he
smiles.
He rose to become a director
of the company, but disaster
struck. The business went
under, just as his wife had to
be hospitalised for a large part
of her fifth pregnancy. He
was offered a job but despite
being in desperate financial
difficulties he had to turn it
down. Fortunately the job was
still available when his wife was
able to take up the family reins
again. Andy Gustar started
working with Roy Hamilton,
developing the brand until now,
14 years after he took over the
business completely, he has four
shops on the Island – a rare
position to be in considering
the decline of the industry in
general – as well as a catering
unit. Also he is now able to use
Isle of Wight beef 52 weeks
of the year – which has been
hard work, he says, but is now
“sustainable”.
Music continues to play a
big part in his life. He leads
a children’s marching band,
and is constantly amazed at
the ability of the children of
around 14 to march in a routine
(he does the choreography) and
remember a repertoire of 45
pieces. “Playing, coordinating

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Andy plays rhythm guitar for the escorts, picture taken
at Warner Sinclair holiday camp in Ryde
hands and feet opens channels
in their minds, it improves their
ability to learn,” says Andy.
Even more important is that
the skills and the discipline
required teaches them to
respect themselves and others.
His own children, all of
whom were involved in the
band, were raised with the
same principle of respect for
oneself and for others. Three
of his sons followed him to t