Heartfelt tributes have been paid to a doting family man, community champion and theatre actor who tragically died while snorkelling on a family holiday in the Caribbean. Dad-of-two and grandad-of-one Andrew Evans was in St Kitts, onboard P&O's Britannia cruise ship.
From Llanelli, Mr Evans was part of a group that went on a snorkelling trip at Peninsular Cove, South East Peninsular on Monday, March 27 when the tragic incident happened. He was brought out of the water and another tourist tried to revive him, but was unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead by the District Medical Officer. Mr Evans was 60, a month away from his 61st birthday. It was later found that he died of a cardiac arrest.
Mr Evans was well-known in the Llanelli community through his long-standing work for first Dyfed County Council, which became Carmarthenshire Council in 1996 in IT and technical support. But he also embraced life in the community, and was part of the local theatre groups for decades, including The Academy Theatre Group and Llanelli Little Theatre.
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He was introduced to the world of amateur dramatics through his long-time friend and council colleague Ann Benjamin, who he went on to perform with in countless shows with The Academy. Mrs Benjamin, who is godmother to one of his children, said: "We first met when we were working at Dyfed County Council, I was performing in Annie, and we needed backstage crew so I managed to persuade him to join us. He decided afterwards that he'd quite like to do stuff on stage as well as doing stuff backstage, so that's how he started doing both, that was his introduction.
"He was the sort of person where, if you asked him to do something, he would do it. He was one of the stalwarts of The Academy, he was there, he would help out, and be involved in doing everything - running around organising this, organising that. He played many parts in the shows - he liked playing the panto animal, he liked the interaction with everyone, that's what he liked - he had a lot of fun. He gave most things a go.
"You couldn't ask for a better friend, he was there if you needed him, you didn't have to ask twice. That was at work, at home, in the theatre, anything to do in your life. Sometimes he would say yes to doing things, and you'd think, 'Andrew, you haven't got time to do this', but he would always find time, and that was the amazing thing about him. He was well loved by so many people. He was a gentleman, and so thoughtful to everyone around him. He would always be thinking, how can I help someone if they're in trouble, and that was just his nature. It just came from him, it wasn't something he had to work at.
"He was somebody who was known by a lot of people because he was always willing to help. He was taken way too early. He had so much more to give in as much as he just loved giving. He was also quite an organised man in many respects, if you wanted something, he knew where to go and what to do."
One of his close friends, David Hurford, paid a glowing tribute to his friend who he knew for more than 40 years, first meeting at the old Theatr Elli while he performed a technical role backstage. He said: "We struck up an immediate friendship, talking about computers and sharing a common interest in technology. Our friendship flourished and we became more social friends. He was much loved by so many different people. He was a wonderful family man and a doting granddad, and he loved being a granddad. He was always telling me and other people what it was like and all kinds of little stories.
"Andrew was very skilled and interested in many, many things, he could turn his hand to so many things. You would never ever be lost for a conversation with Andrew. He loved to talk about his achievements in the theatre, computers, his family who he was very passionate about, and he also had a great love for trains. He would visit Mynydd Mawr Railway and if there was a steam train visit to the area Andrew would be out there with his camera and taking pictures and sending them onto you. He was very community minded and always trying to do something to help people in the community, and one of the governors in one of the schools in the Morfa area. Everybody knew him, he was a friendly, reliable and honest caring person. He was generous with his time and wouldn't look at his watch. Many burnt dinners later. He was passionate about doing something and passionate about doing something well."
Mr Hurford explained how his friend also had a "revolutionary" role in transforming hospital radio in Llanelli. He explained: "I was involved in Radio BGM hospital radio at Prince Philip Hospital, which is a labour of love of mine, and we were hitting a brick wall because we couldn't move forward as we didn't have enough of an IT base to run it with, and I was telling Andrew about this, and he managed to help out in so many different ways there bringing his knowledge and skills, and then became a big part of what we did, rebuilding the entire network infrastructure there. We worked with the engineers of Hywel Dda and built a superb infrastructure which revolutionised the way hospital radio works. I take my hat off to him. He did an enormous amount of work there.
"It's difficult for me to accept he has passed away. It didn't strike home until about two or three days later, it still feels unbelievable. He was so full of life and so active and so enthused about everything he was involved in, he would never shy away from anything. He adored being on stage. I always joked asking him what costume he would be wearing next. One year he had a dog costume on and couldn't see where he was going in it and was crashing into things all over the place. It was hilariously funny. Another year he was one end of Daisy the cow in Jack and the Beanstalk, he was just so funny and did loads of parts and loved doing it."
Mr Evans was due to be taking on what he considered one of his biggest ever parts in a show with Llanelli Little Theatre's production of Charley's Aunt, which was postponed until July due to his sad passing. Mr Hurford explained: "He said it was going to be biggest speaking part he'd ever had and that he was really excited and looking forward to it. That's what cut me up more than anything, that was the culmination of his acting talents, and he wasn't able to show people he what he was really capable of. He will always be liked and respected in equal proportions by both his friends and work colleagues and the locality in which he lived."
Mr Evans was part of many different organisations within the Llanelli community, and was the vice chairman of Llanelli Community Partnership since it first started a decade ago, which brings organisations and individuals together for community-led action on various projects. Chairman of the partnership, Paolo Piana said: "He was a huge servant to the community in Llanelli for many, many years. He will be a huge loss to everybody who knew him and was universally loved by everybody, a person who was always there to offer support anyone who needed it.
"He was always friendly, always welcoming, a friend to everybody. He was genuinely one of the nicest people you could ever meet, and a very modest man. On a personal note, it's a really, really sad loss of a friend, he's irreplaceable. He was literally the heart and soul of the community."
Mr Evans's funeral takes place on Thursday, May 4 at 1.30pm at Bethel Chapel followed by internment at Llanelli and District Cemetery.
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