Recently two young boys lives from Kaitaia Primary, were saved by Mr Andrews at 90 Mile Beach, Ahipara. The boys were able to use their water safety skills they had been learning as part of the Top Energy WaterSafe programme to help keep them afloat until they were rescued by Mr Andrews.

The following was received by Sport Northland from Kaitaia Primary School on their evaluation form as part of the Top Energy Water Safe Programme, showing the programme is making a difference and helping to keep our tamariki safer in, on and around water.

“We were very fortunate to have Averill as our swim safe instructor. She was amazing, organised and most of all her water safety activities actually helped save the lives of 2 young students by teaching them to float on their backs. They were caught in a rip at a local beach and remembered to float until someone was able to rescue them. She also helped at our swimming demonstration day for our parents by taking little mini lessons to showcase the different types of activities she did with our school from stroke development to life jacket to floating and towing”.

The following was also reported by The Northland Age - published 24 March 2015:

Five-year-old Rex Haora Pairama and his 6-year-old cousin Wiremu Bennett-Hati and their classmates welcomed the former soldier to their classroom at Kaitaia Primary School on Thursday, to offer him letters of thanks.  Principal Brendon Morrissey was there too, to present Mr Andrews with a certificate recognising his heroism and expressing the gratitude of the boys’ school, family and friends.

Mr Andrews and his family had been heading for Ahipara to gather tuatua when they saw that a child had been swept out beyond the surf at Waipapakauri Ramp. A man who according to police had been keeping an eye on the boys had gone into the water but could not swim, and had himself needed rescuing.

The first youngster was 50 or 60 metres beyond the breakers, on his back and kicking, but was going under the water.  Mr Andrews assured him, as he got close, that he was there to help him and that he would be okay, then comforted him as he paddled him back to reunite him with his family.

“Before I got back to the beach I saw people further up pointing.  I thought they were warning me about the rip, but there was another boy, about 100 metres out from the surf”, he said.  He too was on his back and kicking and going under.

He went back into the water, this time accompanied by a surfer with a board. 

“He disappeared 10 or 15 seconds before I got to him but I managed to grab his hair, then his hand, and pulled him back to the surface.  He was crying by the time we got him on the surfboard, which I thought was a good sign,” he said.

Both boys were examined by St John and declared to have survived unscathed, although Mr Andrews said yesterday that they had been on the verge of drowning when he got to them.

Last week he told the boys that he was now part of their whanau, and thanked them for the opportunity to once again walk the corridors and where he had played when he had been their age and a pupil at the same school.

Wiremu and Rex were the real heroes, he added. They had known to float on their backs, to kick and not to panic. All he had had to do was pick them up, put them on his boogie board and get them back to the beach.

M Morrissey said he was glad that the boys had remembered the survival skills they had learned at school, while their grandmother, Janet Morunga, again thanked Mr Andrews for returning her mokopuna to their family.

"It was a wake-up call for us. Without you Tangaroa would have taken them. Without you we would have had a double tragedy," she said. "You will always be part of our family, and a big part of our my mokos' lives."

- Northland Age