Doug the Digger is digging into print

Alistair McIntyre knew he had a book in him. But first, aged 37, he had to go back to primary school in Whangarei to learn to read and write.

His teacher, Jean Smith, found him a more willing pupil second time round than she had when she first taught him 30 years earlier.

It must have been a pleasant surprise to both of them – McIntyre, aka Mr Mac who operates Doug the Digger at Fieldays, never intended returning to school. Aged 7, he had learned something that had been far more interesting when his dad taught him how to operate a digger.

“By the time I was 19 I had my own business and everything,” said McIntyre.

His big switch came aged 25 when he had to reconsider his future after a horrific accident in which is arm was crushed by a truck while he was working for Road and Transport New Zealand.

That led to him starting Having Fun Co, using Doug the Digger to teach kids about diggers and excavators.

The next step was to write children’s books about his adventures in a digger.

There was just one problem, McIntyre wasn’t too flash on his reading and writing.

“I went back to school, you know to learn my ABCs and 123s. I even had the same teacher at 37 as when I was 7. Jean Smith, that was her name.” McIntyre said.

The intervening years, and his motivation, transformed the school experience.

“There’s a difference when you have to learn and when you want to learn. I wanted to learn now because I wanted to write these books,” McIntyre, 52, said.

Two books later, McIntyre still works with his diggers, but now it is on a much smaller scale teaching kids about the machinery. At Fieldays, he also has promotional copies of his second book, The Need for Listening, available.

At the Doug the Digger site at Fieldays, Ivanca Jedd, 11, loved the experience.

“It was fun. Moving the digger was much easier then I thought.

“I can’t wait to go again.”