The village of Glassonby lost an active and popular member with the death of Peter Thomas Clarke, aged 70.
Peter was the son of Janet and Thomas Clarke, who were both born and raised in Carlisle. At the time of Peter’s birth they were living in Newcastle, where his father was a pharmaceutical chemist. His sister Janet was born in 1954.
The family moved to Bury in 1960 when Peter’s father became head of pharmacy at Crumpsall Hospital. However, the young Peter spent many happy holidays staying with relatives in and around Carlisle, walking in Gelt Woods, fishing in the rivers and boating on Talkin Tarn.
He attended Bury Grammar School and was a member of the school print shop. He was a keen member of the astronomy club and a keen photographer.
In 1971, he went to Manchester University to study geology and it was there he met future wife Linda, who was also studying geology. It was in 1975 that he went to Crewe and Allsager College to do a PGCert Ed teaching qualification. His first teaching job was at Sandhurst Comprehensive School, teaching science.
At the school he founded a gardening club for pupils and co-founded a school computing club with a colleague. This was at the time when computers were first being introduced to schools.
He discovered that he was good at writing software, making circuit boards and building equipment and went on to work with Research Machines, of Oxford, in developing the Z80 computer and wrote several articles for the magazine Computing in Schools.
In 1981 he made the move to Shaw House School, Newbury, to teach science, which he combined with teaching evening classes in computing at Newbury College. He also taught evening classes for the University of Maryland at the Greenham Common and Fairford airbases. The family moved to a village in Wiltshire in 1985.
Once the garden there was under control he took on an allotment and joined the bowls club based at the end of the garden.
He started doing some work for a group of former teachers who had created a business in computer software consultancy, writing software for major city institutions, including banks and insurance companies. After working as a consultant for the business, BZW — which became Barclays Capital — it was decided that he had better be on the payroll and he became an IT manager.
He trained and mentored a large number of graduate trainees, many of whom went on to hold senior positions in companies globally. It was in 2006 that he moved to his home in the Eden Valley, but he continued to commute weekly to London until retiring in September, 2008.
At Glassonby he built another garden, installed solar panels and had a biomass boiler installed, which was supplied with fuel from a wood he bought. He also built an allotment in the corner of a neighbour’s field. Peter joined Penrith Action for Community Transition (PACT) and was soon involved in events to encourage people in the area to adopt a lifestyle more friendly to the planet.
At Skelton show in 2013 he manned a stand for Sustain Eden, and was present to give advice in the same year when PACT had a stall as part of the Eden Food and Farming Festival.
Other initiatives he was involved with included giving tours of his no-dig vegetable garden and nearby polytunnel and demonstarting his log fired boiler. He took part in PACT events at Acorn Bank, Temple Sowerby.
He was chairmen of Cumbria Action for Sustainability in 2014-15, and took part in tree planting events for Eden Rivers Trust.
A keen fly fisherman, he was a member of Penrith Angling Association and served on the committee. He was member of the Grayling Society and the Prince Albert Angling Society, for which he was a bailiff on two local beats. He was also a keen photographer and took many stunning pictures of the local landscape.
Peter only recently finished an extended term as chairman of Glassonby Parish Council and was still a member at the time of his death. He has for a number of years been one of the cooks for the annual Glassonby village barbecue.
Always community minded, he was a kind, steady influence with knowledge of many subjects and had a wide circle of friends.
He is survived by his wife Linda, daughter Sarah and sister Janet. There will be a gathering in the spring for friends and family who were unable to attend his private woodland burial. Walkers Funeral Directors, Penrith, had charge of the arrangements.
