Barry Greenwood

LeckFell

New member
I?ve just heard the sad news that Barry Greenwood died last week. Peter Thompson is a caving neighbour of mine and he first met Barry in 1958 when they were members of the caving society at Leeds University. In its early years this was a very casual arrangement of cavers although Barry was a great organiser and he put things on a more formal footing. Barry organised a reunion of these founders of ULSA in 2000 but there are very few left today.

Readers of this Forum will have their own special memories of Barry, but I thought it would be interesting to share one story that is so relevant to many of you. On 12th February 1962 Barry Greenwood and Alan Fincham descended Pegleg Pot and became trapped by floods. They had to be rescued, but because of the publicity access to the Fell was terminated. Initial negotiations to regain access failed so in 1963 a number of clubs joined forces and they succeeded in getting the fell open once again for caving using a permit system. That group of clubs became the Council of Northern Caving Clubs.

A few years ago when Barry was suffering from Alzheimers a small group of those ULSA founders took him down Stump Cross Caverns. He looked perfectly at home in his surroundings, put on his helmet, felt all around the cave walls and showed his old concern for other visitors.

Details of Barry?s funeral, which is on Thursday 18th April, can be found on Facebook, where there are also details of how to donate in lieu of flowers to ?Pathways Supporting People Affected by Young Onset Dementia? and the Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue.
 
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