Welcome to Paul Clarke's Home Page

This site is being used to provide news of the Clarke family of Upper Denby, UK, and also to provide links to the pages of a number of worthy organisations and items of useful information.

Feel free to roam at will throughout this website!!

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NEWS OF THE FAMILY

• Neil has been back in the UK since mid-2000, after a few years teaching in Spain. He's now working in local government the South of England where, we are pleased to observe, he appears very happy and settled. It's very pleasant down there, though a tad expensive and too far from Upper Denby.

• Stephen, who has a BSc (2.1 grade) in Geography from Southampton University is now in Cali, the third largest city in Colombia, teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Steve came home most recently in July/August 2008 with his very beautiful Colombian girlfriend Vanessa. We now know what's detaining him in Cali! Colombia is a wonderful country and it's such a pity that it is so relatively impoverished on account of various factors. We hope to see Steve again in December 2009, for Christmas, but Vanessa isn't coming this time.

• Helen, who has a BSc (2.1 grade) in Social Psychology, having studied at the University of Kent in Canterbury, is now the mother of Jonah, born on the 5th of August 2003 - so she won't be working at a full time job for a while (though she's building up a career in various ways and hopes to take a postgraduate course very soon). She's now living in 'down south' and is enjoying some maternity leave, but is finding motherhood no joke (J seems to have a mind of his own - more so as he gets older)!!

• Margaret is still enjoying early retirement from the NHS (which, paradoxically, made her ill by putting too much pressure on her!). From May 2000 - May 2001 she served as Chairman of Denby Dale Parish Council, but she gave up being a councillor in 2007. She's enjoyed taking part recently in a number of Gilbert and Sullivan productions at Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, as a chorus member with Huddersfield Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Most recently Trial By Jury and HMS Pinafore in May 2008 - productions of excellence in my opinion! She's also in couple of choirs, so very busy on the musical front. However, very sadly indeed, she became ill in mid-August 2009 and ended up having a brain tumour removed, in September. Undergoing treatment still and we are all crossing fingers that she'll be OK - but at the time of writing (Nov 2009) the post-operative treatment has resulted in considerable fatigue and we are hoping she'll feel a lot better soon. Neil, Helen and Jonah have been to see us and help to care for her in recent weeks.

• I left the employ of Allianz Cornhill Insurance at the end of January 2003 to spend more time with my other interests and to do part-time surveying work for a variety of organisations on a 'paid per job' consultancy basis. SO, IF ANYBODY WANTS THE SERVICES OF AN EXTREMELY EXPERIENCED RISK CONTROL SURVEYOR WHO HAS OVER 40 YRS EXPERIENCE WORKING FOR VARIOUS MAJOR INTERNATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANIES, PLEASE MAKE CONTACT! C.V AVAILABLE ON REQUEST. So far, working part time as a consultant is a sight more interesting (and more rewarding on a per-job basis!) than working full time for a single firm. It's given me a new lease of life, but instead of 'retiring' I'm finding myself pretty busy, perhaps too busy at times!! We had a very happy Christmas 2006. Neil, Stephen and Helen/Jonah stayed for a few days. Aunty Mollie is now in a very nice care home in Pontefract. She came for Christmas dinner but it seemed to disorientate her so we went to see her on Christmas Day 2007 and just after Christmas in 2008. Steve and Vanessa came and saw us in July 2008 - see comments elswhere - and Helen, Jonah and Neil came to stay for Xmas 2008 and have visited several times since then (great to see them). I seem to spend as much time doing IT support for various people (free of charge!) as I do working!!! Hoping Margaret gets over her medical problems soon!!

• We (Paul and Margaret) had a very enjoyable family-only 30th wedding anniversary 'open house' event back in August 2005 (now a very distant memory)! Delighted that some of the Day family (my mother's side) were able to come, as well as the Reynolds contingent (Margaret's side). No Clarkes present, unfortunately (apart from our own offspring and grandson). Most close relatives on the Clarke side of things are now dead (this seems to be the end of the line for the Clarke family from Roborough and High Bickington, near Bideford, in Devon). Had an enjoyable trip to Austria in April 2007, when we saw some of Margaret's family who live in Vienna and I took part in two concerts given by Huddersfield Choral Society in Brno Cathedral (Czech Republic). In September 2007 we had an excellent week in the Lake District. Pleasant family Christmas 2007 with Neil, Jonah and Helen (no Steve this time), though most of us got a gastric bug!! We went to Spain for a walking holiday in early Spring 2008. Steve and Vanessa came to the UK in the summer of 2008 and we enjoyed a brief and enjoyable (if wet!) holiday in the Lake District. Now they've gone back to Colombia, sadly. Our holiday abroad scheduled for August 2009 had to be cancelled because of Margaret's sudden and entirely unforeseen illness/operation. We hadn't a care in the world in early August 2009 - but at the moment life is one great problem, unfortunately!!
  
  
• SPANISH HOLIDAY March 2008: Flew to Girona from Robin Hood and remained in Spain (Catalonia) from 2nd to 12th March. Hard work but enjoyable in some respects, especially as we saw quite a lot of Nicky (also briefly, JL and Chris Linskill - all 3 met us at the airport). Looked around Girona, visited various places in the Pyrenees, saw some wonderful views and did a little (not enough) walking. Weather very mixed - ranging from hailstones almost the size of a golf ball to balmy, warm, sun. Fresh snow one morning and ice on car! Drove over some high mountain passes in the very good Diesel Focus Hatchback we hired (excellent car). Walked inside the crater of a dormant (not extinct!) volcano. Visted a (deserted - despite fresh snow) ski station. Entered Andorra and didn't like it (commercial in the worst sense) and drove out again very soon - only to be searched for about 5 seconds by Spanish Customs (they opened the boot, saw my dirty clothing and waved us on)! Looked around the ancient Romanesque cathedral at La Seu d'Urgell, where the Bishop (who also owns half of Andorra, ex-officio!) was busily ordaining two priests (two's pretty good nowadays - would probably have been 50 at one time). The congregation kept applauding - something which isn't done in the Church of England. Have some shots and brief videos to post of this most interesting event. Particularly liked Cadaques on the coast. Bad journey home including diversion to another airport because of stormy weather!! If we go again we'll be better organised. Didn't see as much of Chris as we'd hoped, sadly. Some photos here.

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PHOTOGRAPHS and 'MOVIES'

*** CLICK ARROW ABOVE to watch The Great Birthday Cake film!! (You need to allow ActiveX controls in your browser for it to work)***

** Click here for Clarke Family photos taken in Spring 2009 (More photos follow shortly)  ** 

** Click here for Clarke Family photos taken in Winter 2008/9 **

** Click here for Clarke Family photos taken in Autumn 2008 **

** Click here for general photos taken later in the so-called Summer of 2008 **

** Click here for photos taken in UK including Steve and Vanessa's visit - Summer 2008 **

** Click here for the photographs taken in UK - Spring 2008**

** Click here to view some shots in Photobucket of our holiday in Spain - March 2008** (there are various selectable viewing options including slideshow)

** Click here to VIEW some of my photos on the FLICKR photo-sharing website!** (there is also an option to view as a slideshow)

** Click here to VIEW some of my photos on the PICASA photo-sharing website**(there is also an option to view as a slideshow)

** Click here for Clarke family photographs taken at Christmas 2004**

** Click here for photos taken at our 30th Wedding Anniversary family 'do' in August 2005**

Visit by grandson Jonah in April 2008 (both our cats have sadly gone to meet their maker since then)

Margaret out walking near Penistone May 2008 (wish she was a well as this now - Nov 2009)

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All Saints Junior School, Sheffield

See below photographs relating to my former primary school - All Saints Church of England Junior Mixed School, Sutherland Road, Sheffield 4 - which opened in 1872 and (sadly) closed in 1969. The class photograph of Junior 4 was taken in 1954, when we were about to leave for "higher things". These photographs were kindly supplied by my very good friend and fellow pupil (since the age of five!), Eric Aston.

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SHEFFIELD CITY GRAMMAR SCHOOL

The buildings of my old school ('alma mater') on Orchard Lane, Sheffield, have now become part of the prestigious Leopold Square wining and dining development.

Of interest are : OMNES AMICI - the Sheffield City Grammar School Alumni Website. and also Friends Reunited (which has a section covering the school). The only very well known 'old boy' is Roy Hattersley, the former Labour MP (now Lord Hattersley). However, other contemporaries of mine have done particularly well (though I've not seen many of them for 50 years) - such as Roger Singleton, who recently became 'Sir Roger Singleton CBE'! There are many other contacts and items of information on the Omnes Amici and Friends Reunited websites. .I've been in touch all the time with Eric Aston, Jeanette Attwood, David Seton and Chris Linskill (indeed Chris was the best man at our wedding in 1975).

During 2003/2004, thanks to the power of the internet, a lot of the 'old lags' were traced and an excellent gathering of the clans took place in Rotherham (well, it had to be somewhere -so why not?) at the end of April 2004. Christine Brown, Valerie Duckworth and Philip Wright (Lord Wright of Kelham Island, as we affectionately refer to him), together with others "too numerous to mention", did lots of hard work to bring this about and we are enormously grateful to them all. Details of this 50th anniversary reunion (1954 - 2004) are on the Omnes Amici website, including various photographs.

The Sheffield City Grammar School Phoenix badge/logo - worn on the bottle-green caps and blazers!

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Thank you for visiting - please call again! Site last updated 14.11.2009