Julian Arkell

Hello all

It was sad to hear of the passing of regular Clarion cyclist Julian Arkell recently. Angela, Jim and Corrine have prepared the obituary below. Tributes can also be read on the B&H Clarion Google Group.
A memorial ride for Julian will be organised soon.

Thanks

Nick

Julian Arkell, 1934-2023

It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Julian Arkell in October 2023.

Julian joined the Clarion in 2013, shortly after his retirement, and took part in many rides, including several which he planned and led. He later became Membership Secretary and Treasurer of our Clarion section.

Julian’s extensive ornithological knowledge was always highly valued on rides. He was an active member of the local section of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and was also an authority on local churches. He was treasurer of the Jung Society in London, and was involved in many other organisations.

An obituary circulated by the RSPB included the following biographical information:

“Julian was born near Oxford in 1934 and educated at Kings College, Cambridge University, graduating with an MA (Hons) in Economics. This led to a career as a consultant working in the field of international trade and development, exploring ways of removing barriers to trade between countries. This career took him all around the world. In 1992 Julian was awarded the OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list.”

However, he was a humble man, and all most of us knew about his previous life was that he had been quite a “high-flyer”. He never boasted about the considerable achievements mentioned in the obituary.

Sadly Julian had a stroke in 2018 and was unable to ride with us after that; some members of the local Clarion group visited him during his recovery, but two years later came Covid and lockdown, and the visits came to an end.

Julian’s last Clarion ride was on 10 December 2017. You can read his report of it here.