He has been formally instructing outdoor pursuits since 1972.

He graduated in the 70's from teacher training at Eaton Hall, part of the University of Nottingham's School of Education, and won Scholarships to study and then do research at the Universities of Bucharešti and Cluj in Romania. Between 1976 and 1981, 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.

Civilian courses and expedition experience includes leading almost 200 overland and/or backpacking and/or high level mountain expeditions throughout the UK and the whole of high-latitude Scandinavia including many remote area/wilderness courses in northern Finnmark.

Barry is  Mountain Leader qualified (Plas y Brenin), Winter Mountain Leader trained (Glenmore Lodge) and a former teacher with 31 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 2500 youth and adults per year in wilderness skills, leading expeditions to Iceland and Norway, and 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'.

Proposed by David Cox and being elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1974, this was followed up in 2006 as a 'Chartered Geographer' for contributions to geographical fieldwork and outdoor education. In 2002 Barry won a Winston Churchill 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.

Currently Hunter are the custodial managers of The Asheldham Centre [see 'Menu'], with Barry as the Senior Manager. 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. We are very proud to be associated with such a special place. Only when you visit - and stay - will you realise how special.

A major work since 2007 is as Project Manager of the new 'Merrylands 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.  Cascading this project and its components across other schools in, initially Essex, in less than three years 4,900 youth have undertaken the project in 33 schools, with almost 29,000 pupil-hours of activity. See 'Links'.

This Centre of Excellence Project is the Youth Sports Trust benchmark Case Study in the UK for Key Stage 2 Outdoor Education.