He has been formally instructing outdoor pursuits since 1972.

In the early ‘70s, employed by, then freelancing with the Ministry of Defence as a survival instructor, he taught in all the three armed forces, before winning a Scholarship and graduating from the University of Nottingham's School of Education at Eaton Hall to study at the Universities of Bucharešti and Cluj in Romania. Between 1976 and 1981, in part with the MoD, he led or was a member of seven remote area expeditions per year in Arctic Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. In 1979 he spent four months solo backpacking / mountaineering and wilderness exploring in Finnmark.

Barry is  Mountain Leader qualified (Plas y Brenin), Winter Mountain Leader trained (Glenmore Lodge) and a former teacher with 30 award-winning years of experience, 10 years of which was spent as a Head of Geography;  he is an  expedition trainer and former Regional External Verifier for 'Sports Leaders UK' - over ten years - for  their NVQ Level 2 Award in Basic Expedition Leadership, continuing now to instruct over 2000 youth and adults per year in wilderness skills, leading annual expeditions to Iceland and Norway, winter mountaineering in the Lifjell district of Norway.

He was  proposed by the British Sports Trust to Ofsted as a 'National Example of Good Practice in Outdoor Education', and has been praised and commended in four successive inspections by Ofsted for management of innovative and comprehensive programmes in Outdoor Education and  'Excellence' in educational visits management. In addition he was the UK's first 'Outdoor Education Champion' as awarded by the then National Association for Outdoor Education....for 'productive delivery in the field of outdoor education'.

Further awards include being made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1974, and followed up in 2006 as a 'Chartered Geographer' for contributions to geographical fieldwork and outdoor education. In 2002 Barry won a Winston Churchill Memorial Fund Fellowship for research into educational visits, expedition, and outdoor education safety in Norway, Sweden and Finland - in that year  undertaking a 10,000 kms solo, overland, expedition to the North Cape whilst en route around Scandinavia, subsequently being awarded the Trust's Silver Medallion.

He is  a Trustee of 'Adventure Unlimited' - a charity which supports outdoor pursuits projects in Essex and the east end of London, and acting as, currently, Chair of The Asheldham Centre [see 'Menu']. This 'jewel-in-the-crown' 26-bed Centre is located in remote east Essex in a 1000 year-old Grade II Listed medieval church - a unique and quite outstanding residential provision.

A major current work is as Project Manager of the new 'Centre of Excellence for Outdoor Education' in a school in Essex UK, developing a competition standard orienteering course and coaching, an outdoor  'living laboratory' for environmental education, and on-timetable wilderness and survival skills. This is, arguably, the first and only school in Britain where every subject on the timetable has a compulsory outdoor education component. See 'Links'.

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