Andrew Kowalewski was born on 8th April 1956 in Macclesfield.  He was the eldest of six children born to Ted and Joan.  After Andrew came Linda, Celina, Halina, Vanda and Zenon. Andrew was also very close to Uncle Alan who for several years lived in the same house. Uncle Alan and Andrew were more like brothers and always remained close. Being the eldest and coming from such a large family Andrew took it upon himself to look after his brother and sisters by offering his advice and guidance.  He was very close to his mother and when she passed away at a relatively young age, it was a great loss for the family especially felt by Andrew but the family remained close.

As a child he had an enquiring mind and was often dissecting things, frogs, bugs and mice.  His early interest in science spurred him on to study hard and he got his 'A' levels in Chemistry and Physics.

After gaining his ‘A’ levels life took a turn as Andrew sought adventure and he decided to travel to Poland to meet his father’s side of the family who he had never met. On his travels in Poland, which was an adventure for Andrew, he met Teresa in her small home town. One year later they married and remained happily married for 42 years.  He followed his plans and moved out to Poland with the intention of living permanently there, close to relatives.  He trained as a printer but after three years he realised that not only the life of a printer but also Poland was not for him and so Andrew and Teresa returned to Britain to raise their family here.  Together they have two children, Roman and Sylvia.

In England Andrew continued his career in the print industry but his love of all things scientific had never abated, so with the support of Teresa he followed his dream and went to Preston University to study micro-biology. Providing the best for his family was one of Andrews strongest values so whilst he studied, he worked on the trams and buses to supplement his income working full-time hours while being a full-time student. Although Andrew’s passion was to be an astronomer, he realised there were very few job opportunities in this area which could enable him to provide best for his family so on graduating with a BSc, and with honours, he took up his first post in a lab in Blackpool Hospital as a micro-biologist.

Andrew always strived for better and got an interview in Maidstone. Being a Lancashire man, he wasn’t sure where Maidstone was but he looked the town up on a map and headed off for the interview. His application was successful and the next adventure began when the whole family moved down south.  He worked in this job for the next twenty eight years and loved it.  He would say that he used to get paid to play. Andrew would often talk about work and his colleagues, through work he made life-long friends and always spoke of his colleagues in high regard. Even recently, although he was extremely ill, he was determined to get back to work.

Andrew always worked hard yet still found time to pursue his other many and varied interests.  He had several telescopes in his back garden and would spend many of his evenings staring at the sky, either in the observatory that he built himself or the one he later bought.  He never lost his love of astronomy it was something that always fascinated him and was an interest he encourages others to pursue. He also enjoyed photography, developing his pictures in his own dark room. Ever the scientist, he enjoyed following the technical advances in photographic equipment and was always excited when a new photographic ‘toy’ arrived in the post.  He grew orchids which he kept in a greenhouse.  Over the years he had many different interests, collecting meteorites, star globes and books to name a few. 

Although he missed being with his family in Blackpool he enjoyed living in the Southeast. He loved to tease his family, particularly Halina. One of his favourite past-times was to check the weather and if the weather was fine in Kent and raining Lancashire, which it often is, he would ‘phone Halina. Halina would answer and say “I know, I know, it's sunny there”.  Andrew might find the need to underline this with “Raining there?  We're outside, I've got short sleeves”.  In some ways he was like a big kid and enjoyed laughing and joking with others.

Andrew had a real sense of fun and adventure that children were drawn too.    Not only his children but now they have children of their own.  Roman and Fran have Atticas, and Sylvia and Alan have Ava, Isaac and Luke.  He never got tired of playing with the children, he loved his grandchildren as much as they loved him.

His motto in life was ‘seize the moment’. Whenever he mentioned this you knew you were in for a busy time, be it an adventurous day out or a trip away. 

Andrew was all for family.  If anyone asked him what he had achieved in his life it would not be his career as a scientist or even his degree.  He would say “I brought up two children”.