Moira Clark knew Clement Attlee Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Moira Clark knew Clement Attlee Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi

3:37pm Wednesday 18th November 2009

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A COMMUNITY stalwart, who saw politics at the highest level, has died suddenly at the age of 92.

In her lifetime Moira Clark, of Crossing Road, Epping, served as a school governor, teacher and artist and was well-known for her charity work.

The daughter of the late Lord Sorensen, a long-serving Leyton MP, Moira, was a member of the Labour Party all her adult life, although she disagreed deeply with the Iraq War.

Through her father, she frequently met Labour leaders such as Clement Attlee, and international political figures including Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.

A gifted artist, Moira took employment as a commercial artist in South Africa in the early stages of the Second World War.

Upon returning to Britain she served as a nurse and then trained as a teacher.

She met her future husband Derek when they were both members of the teaching staff at Grange Hill School, in Wanstead.

Derek served as an Epping councillor, magistrate and school governor, and like him Moira was active in community work.

She was a governor of Ivy Chimneys Primary School while her children were young, ran a self-help bereavement group for 21 years and served as secretary of the Epping Cancer Research UK Committee for over 25 years until it closed this year. Moira and her husband were both regular attendees at the Quaker Meeting House, in Hemnall Street, Epping.

She is survived by two daughters, Bryony and Lindy, and four grandchildren.

Her funeral is planned for 11am on Friday, November 27, at the City of London Crematorium (South Chapel).

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