As a professional actor I formed "Spotlight Productions" in 1995 and began, in Nelson at the Suter Stage II Theatre, what was to be my first of three National tours.

Andy organised my publicity - met with the printers, working out costs, organised the lighting and sound, liased with Theatre Management on every level from the ticket prices to front of house and safety personnel. He also negotiated with caterers for the Gala opening, contacted the Press, Radio and T.V stations, arranged interviews and photo shoots, as well as constructing the set! From then on he officially became my stage manager, running the entire show and enabling me to simply get on with the business of performing!

Since then, Andy has been in sole charge of my Company, encompassing all of the above but as well, planning itineraries, meeting with Presenters in advance of the proposed tours, then presenting a complete package.

Andy left nothing to chance, ensuring a trouble-free smooth operation. He has the ability to quickly adapt to any circumstance, is calm in a crisis and extremely methodical.

We took additional crew members on each tour - Andy passing on his skills in lighting and sound as well as his organisational skills. He made all our transport arrangements throughout the North and South Islands which entailed transporting two vehicles plus all our staging equipment to and from the North Island as well as Stewart Island.

Each tour we made, we visited mainly the same Theatres and halls some of which had never hosted any other theatre group. On average, we played at 37 venues per tour and it was no mean feat attempting to compile an itinerary when there was such a divergence between working with existing and fully functional Theatre groups with full programmes, and performing in school halls and gymnasiums with no theatrical features whatsoever.