Tributes to tragic son of chef Derry Clarke

There were emotional scenes as the remains of Andrew Clarke, the son of celebrity chef Derry Clarke and his wife Sallyanne, arrived at the chapel of his old school of Clongowes Wood.

Six of Andrew’s classmates, all dressed in school uniform, shouldered his coffin into the Boy’s Chapel.

Meanwhile, a guard of honour, also composed of his classmates, lined the way into the chapel, followed by his grieving parents and sister Sarah May.

Inside, Fr Michael Shiels told the packed church how tragic Andrew, 16, had “a special place in all our hearts”.

Fr Shiels said: “Let us be thankful to God for what Andrew was rather than for what he might have been.”

Speaking at the altar, his mother Sallyanne said: “Andrew, I cannot describe how much I miss you. The ache is deep down in my heart and will never go away.

“You should have had so many more years. Andrew, I will always love you.”

Well-known faces at the ceremony included celebrity lawyer Gerald Kean, music promoter John Reynolds, Fiachna O’Braonain of the Hot House Flowers and businessman Brian Kennedy.

The Clarke family then went to the rectory where the huge crowd queued patiently to pay their condolences.

The funeral cortege left the Clarke family home at Crooksling in the Dublin mountains yesterday just after 5pm for the journey to Clongowes Wood College in Co Kildare, which tragic Andrew’s mum referred to as his “second home”. The popular 16-year-old boarded there, although he always went home to his family at weekends.

Well-known chef Derry, who has featured on several high-profile TV cookery shows, always closed their award-winning L’Ecrivain restaurant on Sundays and cooked a big dinner at home for his family.

The school, which is run by the Jesuits, posted a tribute on their website to the motor-mad teen saying: “Andrew was hugely popular with his peers and will be greatly missed by them all.”

While he was in a coma in the ICU unit in St James’s Hospital last week after the car he was working under collapsed on him at home, more than 30 of his school friends turned up to see him.

The family asked for no flowers at the funeral, instead requesting for donations to be sent to strangeboat.org The charity was set up six years ago to support the families of organ donors.

An even bigger crowd is expected for the funeral Mass this morning at 11 o’clock. Andrew will be laid to rest afterwards at Mount Jerome Cemetery near Harold’s Cross in Dublin.