The sad passing of Andrew Guest

Andrew Guest was an agricultural engineer who specialised in the refurbishment and repair of used Kuhn power harrows and Accord drills. He had an immense knowledge of the working of these machines and was always on hand with advice to anyone who needed it.

Andy started his career studying at Caythorpe Agricultural College, where he studied agricultural engineering. He chanced upon a job advert on the college’s notice board one day, advertising for a labourer/engineer to work for Michael Earl and his father on their farm in Cotham, near Newark. Andy being Andy, roared up to the farm in his souped-up Mini and said he had come to start his new job. When asked how he knew he would be the only person interested, he handed over the advert and explained that no-one else had seen it!  And so, he got the job.

He worked on the farm for a while and then moved on to renting a workshop on Manor Farm Yard, part of the farm, doing general agricultural engineering for people in the local area and rented a farm cottage.

In 1987, Andy met Wendy, his long-suffering wife! Wendy and Andy lived in the farm cottage, before buying Manor Farm Yard from Michael Earl in the early 1990s. They moved out of the cottage and lived in a caravan on site for four years. I say caravan, but it had a 30ft conservatory, so he wasn’t exactly slumming it.

Andy continued doing general engineering work and also started making trailers. In order to pay the bills, Andy and Wendy rented out units in the yard to some woodworking companies, making sheds and pine furniture. Wendy used to make them breakfasts and lunches to help bring in some more money, and they also provided ‘bed and board’ for a load of pigs for a local businessman!

One day someone told him that he should consider specialising in one particular area and stop being too generalist. At that point he decided that power harrows and seed drills might be a good option. And so it began!

In 1990, they started working on power harrows and decided that Kuhn power harrows were one of the easier ones to repair and refurbish. So, that became the specialism. Wendy started working with Andy full time in the workshop, stripping machines, sand blasting and helping to repair and rebuild them.

Over the years, they worked together to build the business until Wendy retired in 2019. Although she was never far away and was always hand to help, and still is.

Andy would help anyone out with any questions or problems that they may have. He was always on the end of the phone to offer advice. He was also known to drive out of his way to help, if they needed an expert eye. He was frequently seen on the local roads in his Land Rover with a huge trailer on the back loaded up with power harrows that he had bought at one of the many machinery auctions that he attended.

He was well known at the agricultural sales and was respected by a great many people within the industry.  Andy was known as an expert in his field and we are the first port of call for a lot of people looking for machines, parts or advice. The business continues to operate, turning out over 50 three metre power harrows a year, as well as all of the other sizes, and the various sizes of Accord drills. It also holds a huge stock of the various parts required for people to repair and improve their own machines.

We will continue to work with Wendy to run the business and try to do him proud!