Barry was born and grew up on lower Ford Estate in Sunderland. Although he moved to the new Grindon Estate at the age of 7, he never left his home town (later city) and, in later years, he and Auriel made their home barely 100 yards from the former Fulwell tram and bus garage!
As a boy, he attended Bede Grammar School in the town and, after leaving school, his first job was on the Pallion Trading Estate; later, he worked as a Management Accountant and Consultant in the manufacturing industry. His accountant’s eye for detail and accuracy stood him in good stead when it came to SCT61 and he got much satisfaction from working through many of the photographs on the site and marking their locations.

He and Auriel met when they were both about 17 and married in 1971. Although Barry had many interests in his life, it’s safe to say that his life revolved around Auriel and their daughters. Although Sunderland was a tram town until 1954, Barry also had a fascination with trolleybuses – a fascination which was shared by Auriel - and quite a lot of the photographs he took as a young man were of these.

Away from work, family and transport, Barry had a lifelong interest in music, especially film music, and much of his time was taken up with the trials and tribulations of the Jerry Goldsmith Appreciation Society of which he was Treasurer, writer and magazine Editor for about 20 years. His failing hearing in his last years was a major concern to him as he worried that he might not be able to hear his music properly. After taking early retirement on health grounds at the age of 61, Barry’s life increasingly involved appointments at various surgeries. In April 2015, the extent of his heart failure was fully realised and he was given the opportunity of a ‘bridge’ solution: a rare procedure involving the fitting of a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD for short) which could extend his life by up to five years. Sadly, this was not the success which we hoped it would be and Barry passed away in Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, on 12 January 2016 at the age of 68.

Thanks to Alan Hall for organising the photo and the introductory text.

There is also a further gallery in memory of Barry, a personal tribute from Malcolm Pelling looking at buses in the North East of England where he came from and buses he would have known.

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