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Off to France
This month sees the departure of one of our longest-standing committee members, Andy McKenzie. Born in Kent, Andy describes himself as ‘very ordinary’. However, at the age of 18 his life took a fairly extraordinary turn when, living in the United States with his mother, he was drafted into the US army and was sent almost immediately to Vietnam. His account of his time as a tank driver in the war zone is typically understated – he describes it as ‘useful experience for learning to drive a tractor’; what is more important to him is that when he left the army he was introduced to the practice and beliefs of Buddhism.
On his return to the UK, Andy worked in a series of jobs, trying his hand at everything from tree surgery and driving to selling koi carp (all of which he says have since proved useful!) His interest in Buddhism continued and he regularly visited Soka Gakkai International (SGI-UK), a lay Buddhist organisation, where he met a young Frenchwoman, Annick, also a committed and active member of the Buddhist community. They married and had two sons and in 1985 the family moved to Musselburgh, just east of Edinburgh. They had only been there two years, however, when they were visited by Richard Causton, the leader of the UK branch of SGI, whom Andy had met some years before when he was working as a chauffeur for Mercedes Benz. Their friendship had strengthened through their shared interest in Buddhism and Causton now offered Andy the post of estate manager at Taplow Court, which SGI had recently acquired. Andy accepted without hesitation and in June 1988 the family came to Taplow.
With their sons attending St Nicolas’ School, Andy and Annick settled quickly into village life. Annick worked as a French assistante at Desborough School in Maidenhead for 3 years but in 1994 she decided to fulfil her life-long ambition to be an artist. She studied at the Berkshire College of Art and Design and at Amersham College and quickly developed her distinctive and successful style of vibrant colourist painting, inspired by masters such as Cezanne, Van Gogh and Matisse. Her work has been exhibited in the UK, France and New York as well as at art fairs closer to home in London, Windsor and Reading, and her commissions include Starbucks Coffee Company and Adrian Moorhouse’s Lane 4.
Andy’s first years as estate manager were, he says, ’pure hard graft’. But once the renovation of Taplow Court’s house and grounds were complete, he too began to find time for hobbies of his own. In 1990, a great storm brought down over 65 mature trees on the estate, including 35 of the 60 magnificent cedars in the Cedar Walk. Andy didn’t want the wood to be wasted, so he decided to make things of it. ‘I couldn’t saw in a straight line,’ he recalls, ‘so I started wood-turning. I made a lot of bowls.’ At the same time, he was asked if Taplow Court could provide ‘a few logs’ for the ox roast at the annual Village Green Party. With such an abundant supply available, Andy had no trouble in finding some and the estate has been providing them every year since.
Andy and Annick are now making preparations to leave Taplow for the South of France, an area they know and love. We wish them well for their retirement in the sun.
Gill Holloway