Andrew & Ann Noel Clark

click Arnold & Zettie Clark for Andrew's parents.

click Clark for others in this family

click Chipko for Andrew and Ann Noel's home

click Charity performances at Chipko for reports of these.

Andrew born 1943 and Ann Noel. Son Joel born 1976 and Zettie born ? Homes and activities in brief (more details in obituary below) :--

Andrew set up relief and rehabilitation services for the Quakers in Biafra, in time of Nigerian civil war.

Andrew set up relief and rehabilitation services for the Quakers in newly independent Bangladesh.

Andrew worked in Vietnam helping the Buddhists on behalf of Oxfam.

In Vietnam he met Ann Noel, a volunteer nurse.

May 1975. Andrew and Ann Noel married in Amersham.

They honeymooned in Kebri Dehar, Ogaden, Ethiopia. sent by Oxfam during a famine.

1976 Andrew, Ann Noel and 10 week old Joel went to India to help create the Oxfam West Orissa programme.

Finding solutions to rural poverty was one of Andrew's defining skills. He conducted a review of Oxfam's work across India.

Andrew, Ann Noel, Joel and daughter Zettie lived and worked next among the locals in Damoh, Central India.

1983 Home to become (for 17 years) General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Service

Andrew led the International Association for Religious Freedom for 5 years.

When he retired he became the Chairman of Anti-Slavery International

Andrew and Ann Noel played host to Lacey Green Productions and other performers in their home 'Chipko' specifically to raise funds for charities associated with causes for which he had worked. click Charity performances at Chipko where these are reported.

3rd September 1984. Conveyance between John Cole of 66 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LH, solicitor of the Supreme Court, Roger Parker-Jervis of The Estate Office, Great Hampden, Great Missenden, land agent (the vendors) and Andrew Christopher Clark and Ann Noel Clark (his wife) both of 'Chipko', Parslows Hillock, Lacey Green, Aylesbury (the purchasers).

Now this deed witnesseth that for £3000 the vendors sold to the purchasers - All that piece of land containing 5 acres known as Parslows Hillock comprising part of Ordinance Survey No 408 and 411 as shown on the plan hereto.

Attached covenants.

1 Erect and maintain a stockproof fence to the satisfaction of the vendors.

2 Not undertake any sawing operations between the times of 7 pm and 7am.

3 Not to erect any building or structure on the property.

4 Not to use the property for any trade or business whatsoever. The property shall be maintained as woodland or woodland garden.

5 At no time to dump any materials of any kind on any part of the property.

6 Not erect any Signboards, Notice Boards or Advertisements on any part of the property provided that nothing in this clause shall preclude the purchasers from erecting signboards which indicate either that no shooting is permitted or that the public footpath across the property is not a bridle path.

Hallmark June 2020. Obituary for Andrew Clark by B Robinson. Submitted to the Guardian ‘Other Lives’ section

My friend Andrew Clark, who died of leukaemia on 23rd April 2020 aged 77 was, in his own words, “a small boy grafted onto a privileged family tree”.

He was the third of six children adopted by Zettie, nee Halliday, a trained nurse, and Arnold Clark, wealthy glass merchant and pillar of the Baptist church. He grew up in Great Missenden in a strongly religious household. Educated at Leighton Park School, Birmingham University and Manchester University, he became a prominent Quaker and passionate pacifist in adult life.

Andrew’s faith, constantly evolving, was the mainspring of his actions. He was aware of his privileged position, and by his teens he had decided to devote his life to others less fortunate. Adventurous, hungry for foreign travel, heedless of his personal comfort or safety, he was naturally attracted to relief work in a war zone.

His practical intelligence, allied to his great warmth and humanity, made him an outstanding aid worker, setting up relief and rehabilitation services for the Quakers, first in Biafra at the time of the Nigerian civil war and then in newly independent Bangladesh. Back in England for a brief respite, Andrew’s father, worried about his safety, said: “I don’t mind what you do next as long as you don’t go to Vietnam.” A fortnight later the Overseas Director of Oxfam invited him to work with the Buddhists there. He couldn’t resist the challenge.

There was a fitting reward. Working with and learning from the Buddhists was the best job he ever had, he later said. And in Vietnam he met the perfect partner, Ann Noel, who was working as a volunteer nurse. Two years later, in May 1975 they were married in a Quaker ceremony in Amersham. Honeymoon? A small hotel and a diet of goat stew in Kebri Dehar. Oxfam had sent them both to the Ogaden area of Ethiopia during a famine.

The consternation of relatives was compounded a year later when the young couple, plus 10-week old Joel, set off for India to create the Oxfam West Orissa programme with respected development worker A.V.Swamy

Finding solutions to rural poverty became one of Andrew’s defining skills, deepened by post-graduate study of agricultural engineering at Cranfield, and honed by years in the field. Andrew conducted a review of Oxfam’s work across India, and then worked and lived happily with his family (completed by the new-born Zettie) among the locals in Damoh, Central India.

He returned home, now nearly 40, because he had been asked to become the General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Service. He moved into Chipko at Parslow’s Hillock, a house spectacularly located on the Chiltern escarpment that he designed to be sustainably powered by wood logged from his land. Andrew’s need for physical activity and danger would in future be satisfied by a chainsaw, a quad bike and a wood-burning stove.

For seventeen years Andrew ran Quaker Peace and Service. For another five he led the International Association for Religious Freedom. On retirement he became chairman of Anti-Slavery International, for which he was a tireless fund-raiser. He was one of the great and good in his chosen field. Andrew’s love of Chipko was shared by his children, and the last years of his life were lived in an extended family, who all survive him. He spent his last months surrounded by them, writing his memoirs. It was a fitting end to the life of a truly good man.