Andy Mayo

Andy and Jane Mayo with Elanor and Angus

Andy Mayo first joined HoverAid as an engineer in 1994, and has worked on our hovercraft all around the world. He was instrumental in starting our flood relief work projects in 2000 and 2001, and has been a director and trustee of the HoverAid Trust for the last few years. When not involved in HoverAid as a volunteer Andy has spent the last ten years working as a consulting engineer with a leading UK firm and undertaken a second masters degree in Development Management, however that is all about to change. From October Andy will be working for HoverAid full time, with three roles:

Developing HoverAid in the UK as a Christian charity, developing links with churches, and NGOs and raising the profile of hovercraft as tools to enable relief, and development.
Setting up and overseeing the project in Madagascar, including operational training and preparations for cyclone or flood relief work.
Fund raising, we need to raise £75,000 in the next twelve months to run the programme.

It is twelve years since HoverAid has had full time staff and together with his wife Jane, they have felt lead to develop HoverAid as an organisation.

"It's clear to me that with global warming being a real threat to increasing numbers of communities around the world we will see hovercraft being used more frequently, but it shouldn’t just happen when big natural disasters strike, such as the Tsunami in Indonesia. With hovercraft used appropriately I really think we can offer a meaningful way of bringing people together. The world is a smaller place than it used to be, and yet those communities that are hard to reach remain isolated; the poverty of the poorest increases year on year.
I believe HoverAid can enable those who can help the best, reach those who need it the most, it really is just a case of loving our neighbours."