Andrew Murray was born in 1941 in Edinburgh Scotland.
He was one of 6 siblings, he was the youngest.
As a child he could walk to Edinburgh castle, & remembered that one day he & a friend climbed the fence & managed to make their way into the castle.
They were caught & had a stern talking to. They were also made to sign a document to say they would never break in again.
Drew was 5 when they first came over to Australia, he lived in Campsie in Sydney. The family travelled back & forth three times between Australia & Scotland, before settling here permanently.
Drew had a great love for Soccer & played for 40 years. He played a few games professionally. He recalled a memorable game at Henson Park, which was actually a football ground, but they were permitted to have their game of soccer there.
Drew finished school at 14 & at 16 joined the Merchant Navy. They travelled around Australia, & also to South America. But it was too dangerous for them to depart the boat there.
He had met a wonderful lady named Joy at a dance at Marrickville town hall. He married her at age 20.
After leaving the Navy he drove trucks, & buses. He also worked for the railway in Darling Harbour.
Drew took Joy on a voyage to Scotland as she had never seen snow. They were staying with his brother when in the morning he told Drew to wake Joy & tell her to come outside. Joy got to see the snow falling & landing on them. It was at a location called Arthurs Seat. Drew looked so happy while retelling this story to me, & remembering Joy's amazement & excitement.
Joy & Drew had two sons. They lived in Mt Pritchard when the kids were young.
They moved to Stroud after some years, & Joy was a seamstress & made curtains for local businesses & households.
Joy also worked as an organizer for Stroud show, & Drew helped her with those duties. Joy sadly passed away in 2012.
Drew developed lung cancer, & had to spend 3 months in the mater hospital. He has radiation scarring on the top half of his lung, which makes it now fairly ineffective.
In 2020 Drew had some health issues, & upon investigation they found that his appendix had burst.
Drew was diagnosed with dementia in recent years & the decision was made for him to sell up at Stroud & move to his son & daughter in laws farm in the Hunter Valley.
He did so well to recall all of his past memories. it's just his day to day that he has trouble with.
I made comment to Drew that I was surprised he didn't have an accent. He recalled getting teased for it at school by a boy who was in a higher grade & much bigger than him. He said they got into a fist fight, & after scrapping with each other for some time the fight ended, & they became great mates.. Drew did however work very hard to disguise / lose his accent to avoid any more issues.
