Barrie and I were close friends at Dartington and we remained in touch, Barrie often coming to stay with us, the children were very fond of him, until his untimely death.
He had apparently named me as next of kin and as he died in Saudi Arabia where he was teaching,it was my number the Foreign Office rang to inform me.
I arranged to have him flown home and cremated – his ashes were strewn by the River Dart in the grounds of his beloved Dartington and a few close friends and tutors had a picnic by the river and laughed about all the wonderful times we had shared with him. His oboe and recoder tutor had written a piece especially for the occasion and I read some of Barrie’s verse – I like to think that it was just the kind of send-off he would have arranged for himself.
He is commemorated at Dartington by a plaque and a tree.
JBTW as far as I can tell, in reference to the photograph of the panel, Barrie is the one on the left as we look at the screen.
It was sheer coincidence that I found your site and I was very pleased to learn a little bit more about his esarly life about which he rarely spoke.
He was a truly remarkable and gifted person and is still sorely missed.
Regards
Peter
