I wish
that I were not standing here today and yet, given the reason, there is nowhere
else that I would rather be. I am sure that
we all share a common purpose. To pay our
respects to a man who has gone from us too soon. To celebrate what life he had and to
demonstrate, to those he loved the most, the depth of the esteem and regard we
held for him.
He was
a loving son to Barbara and Ted, a brother to Michael and Sue, a lifetime partner
to Glenn, and an uncle to Samuel, Calum, Gemma and Victoria all of who I know
he adored. He was also a friend or colleague to all of us here today and similarly,
I am sure, too many more who are not able to be here.
It is always
sad when we lose someone who has not completed what is generally considered to
be a full life. Leaving parents to say
goodbye to their children is particularly poignant. Each of you will have your own special and abiding
memories of Barry and they will be filling your minds as we join together. I have my own memories and I will share those
with you now if I may.
I joined
the Prison Service in 1974 as an officer and Barry joined in 1984 some 10 years
behind me and also as an officer. He started his career at HMP Dartmoor but
unlike me he had entered the service as a graduate entrant on the accelerated
promotion scheme and it is fair to say that his progress was meteoric. With just 12 months as a uniformed officer he
was promoted to governor grade 5 and transferred to HMYOI Lowdham Grange as
their Head of Activities and he remained in that post for 4 years. In 1989 he was transferred to Prison Service
Headquarters as Head of the Ethnic Minority Recruiting Campaign.
As I
describe Barry’s Career you will notice that he clearly had a special talent
for “Managing Change” for he was constantly doing just that for the Prison
Service.
The
piece of work that he was doing at headquarters lasted a year and then Barry
was returned to an operational role and in 1990 he was posted to HMP Dorchester
and back in his role as Head of Activities.
In
1992 he was promoted to the rank of Governor 4 and posted to HMP Belmarsh. This is where I first met him. I had been at Belmarsh since it had opened and
I was occupying the prestigious role as Principal Officer in charge of the
“Special Secure Unit”, I say prestigious with some degree of Irony. My service background at that time being 18
years in what any seasoned practitioners would describe as “the sharp end of
the service”. Barry arrived as Head of
Security of what was considered to be the most secure Prison in Europe, and I
was horrified. Here was a man, who in my
jaundiced view, was now to be my direct line manager whose background was in
organising sports days for naughty boys and laying about at head office waiting
for the tea trolley to arrive.
I soon discovered that there was more to Barry than I had
presumed. He was interested in what we
were doing and more to the point how we were doing it. He didn’t arrive with his new broom and
fanciful ideals or ideas. He was
thoughtful and purposeful, keen to understand the philosophy and the dynamics
of dealing with the many and various complexities of this new prison. His approach was with a light touch but light
like the jockeys whip. He had a razor
sharp understanding of the issues and would set objectives and agree with his
victim that they were achievable. Then he
would pursue the end game with a passion and determination that was
irresistible.
I very quickly came to like his style of management and
indeed admire the man, he gained my trust and respect in no time at all. I would have loved to have been competent to
emulate his approach to the work but he was unique and any effort to imitate
him would have been at best amusing and at worst pathetic.
I am proud to be a freemason and without my knowledge Barry
had approached our Chaplain at Belmarsh with a view to becoming a
freemason. The Reverend Graham Herrett,
now long deceased, was a member of my Lodge, “King Solomon’s Temple” which met,
and still meets at Great Queen Street.
This being the headquarters of freemasonry worldwide. Graham having been approached by Barry had agreed
to sponsor him. Graham asked me if I
would be willing to be his second and I was more than willing to do so. Barry eventually became a proud member and
over the years he proved to be an excellent brother enjoying the friendship and
fraternity that membership brings. That
was the event that began my abiding friendship with Barry and Glenn and it has
sustained to this day.
Glenn sadly, for Barry and me, never joined Barry in our
love of freemasonry but he always supported Barry whenever possible.
In 1996 he was posted to HMP Wandsworth where he spent two
years as their Head of Personnel, I believe Barry’s degree was in personnel
management, so he had finally returned to his academic roots and his ability,
to get the best out of those around him and those subordinate to him, was
incredible.
In 1998 he transferred as Head of the Regional Training
Unit at Newbold Revel and was there for two years before being seconded to the
role of Advisor to the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office. I am not certain of the timeline because he
did a great deal of work in the “Investors in People” program. While at Belmarsh he managed a successful
application for Investors in People. This
success earned him an opportunity to steer a successful application for the
Home Office Prisons department and this achievement having been noticed by the
Home Office in Queen Anne’s Gate who had apparently failed three times to
obtain IEP seconded Barry to work his magic for them, which he did.
On his return to the Prison Service in 2001 he was offered
the Governance of HMP Whatton in Nottinghamshire and after three years a
transfer to Govern Guys Marsh in Dorset which brought him to the area of
England that he and Glenn had decided to settle in. Three years later in 2007 Barry’s “Managing Change”
skills were again sought and he went to the Isle of Sheppey where he managed
the clustering of the three prisons there, Swaleside, Elmley and Stanford Hill
becoming the Chief Executive for the Prisons on Sheppey.
In 2008 the Clustering having been successfully achieved
Barry was transferred to HMP Parkhurst, nearer home but on the Isle of
Wight. This became another clustering
opportunity for Parkhurst, Albany and Camp Hill and again it was successfully
managed and his title of Chief Executive restored.
For reasons not clear to me Barry then resigned from the
Public Prison Service and took a role as Director of Operations for G4S and was
responsible there for the management of four UK prisons and one immigration
removal centre. This employment lasted
for two years and then Barry spread his wings and flew to Tasmania to take up a
post as Director of their Prison Service.
It was quickly clear that Tasmania didn’t suit Barry and the Tasmanians
apparently didn’t warm to Barry’s thorough style. This is well documented on
the internet and it is plain that the problem was a Tasmanian one and not in
any way of Barry’s doing. It is evident
that when employing Barry the Tasmanian Government were seeking a servant who
lacked moral fibre, principles and an unswerving determination to bring about
improvements to their service. Barry was
exactly the opposite of who they sought because he had all those qualities in
abundance.
Not being one to settle into retirement on his return to
the UK Barry secured the role of Chief Operating Officer with a company
supplying “Care” services to the Essex County Council.
Barry was a congenial, intellectual and gregarious man. He
has lived a useful life spent in the service of others and it is extinguished
far too soon. All that remains it is for
us to make what sense we can from this day and to remember the good and
faithful man that we all knew. That is where the story ends for my friend Barry
and in finishing, if I may, using a masonic phrase in its intended context “he lived
respected and died regretted”.
While I was composing this eulogy for Barry I received a
note from Helen Bransfield who I know not but her words so encapsulate the very
heart of the man we are here to honour I will share them with you:
“Would it be possible
to pass this message onto Glen and Barrys family as I worked with Barry whilst
he was the CEO on the Sheppey Cluster. I remained in contact with him until he
went to Tasmania and we promised to keep in touch but I am afraid that it was
one of those things.
When I heard the news,
I was so upset. I have had many bosses in my working career of oh so many years
– but Barry will always be my favourite. He turned up on Sheppey like a little
whirl wind – which was what I actually called him. I can honestly say that I
have never worked harder – or laughed as much. His smile and laughter were
infectious. He had me sourcing pictures of the Queen to hang behind his desk –
he said that it was so at certain angles, he looked like he was wearing a crown!
Him and his spinning plates diagrams! He also made me do a staff structure
chart for the whole of Sheppey. It was about six foot by six foot and became a
huge task – but all the staff appreciated that for the first time ever they
could see who was who – and how it fitted together. He has given me a lifelong
love of white boards and flip charts – every office I now work in has white
boards and I encourage any department I manage to put white boards up. He used
to make me bend my knees when we had photos taken of us both so that he didn’t
look too much shorter than me!
His ideas were like a
breath of fresh air and the way he cared about everyone he met shone through.
He used to charge around all three prisons, hand out stretched saying ‘Hello
I’m Barry’. People would look at me walking behind and giving me an expression
of ‘who is he???’
He insisted on getting
out and about on all the wings in each prison – he would talk to prisoners,
visitors, staff (of any grade) – and I would be walking behind taking notes.
Everyone would get a response on their query. He truly cared about his role and
how he could make a positive difference to the way the places were run.
He talked about Glen
often (who I think was working overseas at the time), always with love and
affection.
I have missed working
with him every day since he left. He was a truly amazing man with so much
warmth and compassion.
Bet he has those
angels in heaven laughing already.”