Eulogy of Adam Clark'The Boy'

I vividly remember my fist encounter with Adam. Sylvia & I had moved to Ashmansworth in 1989, next door to Andy, Judy, Christopher, Adam and Victoria. Adam's face suddenly appeared through our wooden fence:With a mischievous smile he said 'Do you know this fence has a hole in it? I certainly hadn't remembered a hole in the fence before, .and over the subsequent weeks and months, that hole just got bigger and bigger as Adam's curiosity led him to explore new territory. And slowly but surely Adam became an increasingly important part of our lives.

Adam's curiosity was one of his many endearing features. As we strolled in our garden, Adam would pop out from behind a bush or from up a tree,. .Always to reveal some exciting new wildlife discovery.. a newt, or tadpoles spotted in the pond, a weasel in the hedge, a fox's footprints in the snow. Adam spotted every detail.

When on a walk with him or a bike ride he would suddenly stop and point at a speck in the sky. 'Look there's a buzzard or .there's a kestrel', or he'd spot a tiny beetle scuttling across the road. The outdoors was Adam's domain. Sally Burch, who helped to look after Adam in his early years, reminded me that no matter what the weather, summer or winter, Adam would appear in his shorts and green wellies!

He loved being outside from dawn to dusk .and longer if he could persuade Judy (his mum) that one of his hens needed some attention. Adam loved his chickens; he would talk endlessly about them. I remember him in our kitchen proudly bearing his basket of 'free range' eggs, describing the provenance of each individual egg.explaining in detail the merits of this breed and that. He was even prouder the day he won first prize for his eggs in the Ashmansworth show.

I must admit I can think of nobody else who could hold us spellbound by his descriptions of fowl pest, spider mite infestations and the feather pecking habits of 'The Silky!'

When Adam was 12, I well remember one discussion where he proclaimed that wildlife would always be the most important thing in his life. Sylvia (my wife) had a £ 5 bet with him that by the time he was 18 he would be more interested in girls; ..but Adam was emphatic. Shortly after his 18th birthday Adam phoned us and Sylvia asked if he now owed her the £5. Adam hesitated a moment;.“Well, actually I owe you about £2.50!” .Adam was clearly growing into a young man!

In his earlier years, Adam's love of wildlife and his natural curiosity got him into a few scrapes with the local gamekeeper, as he loved exploring the neighbouring estate land. Adam's friend, Andrew Rowe, remembers them climbing up and down haystacks.Adam being quicker than anyone else, because he got more practice! But on one occasion they were spotted by the gamekeeper and scrambled up the hill to avoid capture.only to be rounded up by another estate employee on a quad bike.

Rather ironic then, that on a recent trip back to our village, Adam told us that he had asked the local estate for some work experience.. a real 'poacher turned gamekeeper' saga!

Adam enjoyed his friends and got on well with the teachers at St Gabriels School, Thorngrove and later Park House. However, he suffered from dyslexia, which made academic study frustrating. His head teachers from Thorngrove School, Nick and Connie Broughton, tell me that to persuade Adam to study they related everything to farming. His form became known as 'the farmers'. On being told that the class was too used to being spoon fed, Adam replied ' but we haven't fledged the nest yet!' .And on being informed that he might not make the grade in some subjects, Adam retorted ' but I'm already GCSE standard in farming'! Although Adam was not fond of 'school work' he enjoyed 'school life', and Connie's abiding memory of Adam, then 13, was of his last day at school as he accompanied the final hymn on his drums, in floods of tears.

Adam though, never really enjoyed the confines of the classroom and, one day, whilst at his senior school he had a diplomatic stomach-ache, which kept him at home. This had apparently cleared up by the afternoon and Sylvia and I met him pushing a wheelbarrow along the road with the contents covered by an old sack. When we asked what was under the sack, Adam lifted it, to reveal another of his passions.his air rifle.. he was never too ill to practice a little shooting. Many the pigeon breast or rabbit we enjoyed from Adam's endeavours.

Despite Adam's frustration with academic work, another of his great strengths was his determination. I was really impressed that he was so committed to getting a good job connected with wildlife or conservation that he battled through his dyslexia to get to University, earlier this year. During his short time there, I'm sure he was beginning to form new friendships, because Adam always loved people - as a child he knew all the local news,. Because he loved chatting away with anyone who came across his path... and once he had persuaded Andy & Judy to buy him a pedal go-cart the length and breadth of Ashmansworth was his domain. He would spend happy hours carting bails of hay to his beloved hens and geese on a trailer attached to his cart. .or travelling to local farms, where he helped out with the milking.

Many Ashmansworth residents recall that, unlike most children of his age, Adam always had time for the older villagers. Mrs Burrows fondly recalls Adam always taking the trouble to chat to her husband who had suffered from several strokes. Adam made every person feel special and his enthusiasm for wildlife during those chats, was infectious.

I don't think anybody else could have induced Sylvia, whilst on holiday in Greece, to scrape up the remains of a dead snake and pack it neatly into our suitcase ..all because she knew Adam would be interested to see it! Similarly, in recent years, Anna Gallen, was visiting the Clarks, here in the Lakes. She recalls Adam enthusing all evening about his beloved red squirrels.. and then, to her horror.being dragged out of bed at 6 am and through the woods to observe the squirrels herself. She couldn't believe that anyone could get her out of bed at that hour or to get her to leave the house before she'd drunk a cup of coffee.but Adam did.and its an experience she will always treasure.

Adam had a habit of giving people such moments.A farmer's wife from Ashmansworth gave Adam the ultimate accolade by describing him as 'a true village boy'.he loved the village, the people and the countryside. So many people from our village feel a real and deep sadness at his passing.

On Adam's last visit back to Ashmansworth it was great to share a meal and a pint with him and it was wonderful to see that the boy who had left the village in '99 had now grown into a fine young man.

There is an ancient Indian saying:
'The crimson bird alighted on the barren tree, and the tree was no longer barren'
Adam was that crimson bird, .the world was a brighter and less barren place when Adam was around, and it feels barren now he has flown. However, Sylvia and I remember feeling that loss when Adam and his family moved from our village. There was something missing from our walks. We expected to see Adam popping out from under a bush.but he didn't, and it felt a more barren place.

That was until I realised that Adam hadn't really flown at all, ..in a strange way he had opened our eyes to a wonderful natural world. & he is imprinted for us in every owl, every footprint in the snow, every frog, every squirrel and buzzard. And, if I ever make it to the pearly gates I am absolutely sure that Adam will pop out from behind some pearly bush, with a beaming smile, saying 'hey Johnnie come and see what I've found over here'

Thank you Adam for enriching our lives; for sharing with us your sense of fun, your enthusiasm, your determination, your love of the natural world, your endearing curiosity and your charm. Like the crimson bird you have made this world forever a less barren place.

Johnnie Johnson 15/11/2004