BARBARA'S STORY
An Outline
This page outlines some of the main events of her life. There are links to other pages giving a fuller account of different episodes in her life and career.
Early Years
CHILD+
Barbara was born in Heaton, Newcastle on Tyne, the daughter of Alan and Phyllis Blair. She was the eldest of a group of cousins who met regularly throughout her life.
She was a pupil at Heaton High School. Her best friends from there remained close to her throughout her life. CHILD
STUDENT+
She made more long term friends during her time at the University of Leeds. She gained a Geography degree in 1967.
Both of us trained as teachers. We married in 1969 when I had completed my teacher training and worked for a short time in schools in West Yorkshire.
College Years
Barbara wrote later about the ‘great warmth she had to offer’ both in supporting friends who had difficulties and in her teaching career. Back in England she wanted to make this a fuller part of her working life. Around 1980, she retrained as Special Needs Teacher, placing personal support for her students at the heart of her work.
Alongside adult literacy, she found a role in the new vocational courses of the period (YOP and YTS). Bury Council initially ran these courses from three small centres and Barbara quickly moved from part-time work to the role of head of one of the centres. She wrote a thesis examining the work of these centres for an MEd from Manchester University.
Though the centres were clearly successful, a Borough-wide reorganisation led to their closure. Barbara subsequently became Head of Special Needs at Bury College (1988 - 1996). The quality of her work was recognised nationally when she was invited to become a part-time College Inspector, a role she continued to hold well after her retirement from Bury College. In that role she worked to preserve a person-centred, teacher supportive enclave within the punitive ethos of OFSTED.
BODYWORK
In the midst of all this Barbara discovered massage therapy. She was initially a client, finding a new way to cope with the stresses of life. Soon, however she saw this as a way of supporting people without always fighting for space in a system where she felt attention to individuals was superseded by the need to find accreditation. In 1996, when Colleges across the country decided to save money by offering their more experienced staff redundancy with early retirement, she jumped at the chance for a full career change.
With continuing payments from her redundancy, Barbara was able to choose to do what she wanted with no need to maximise her income. She was excited to discover what her work as a therapist offered her. She loved the direct relationship with her clients. Her extensive professional development brought her into contact with a wide range of individuals and organisations. These groups often benefitted from the administrative experience she brought with her. This third career proved to be the most productive and happiest of her professional life.
CREATIVE LIVING CENTRE
It was a happy coincidence that the Creative Living Centre was set up just as Barbara was beginning to work as a massage therapist. It occupied a lot of her time over the next 20 or so years and her contribution to its development was enormous. Nearly all of her activities for the Centre were voluntary.
In 2018 at the age of 72, Barbara retired as a Trustee of the Creative Living Centre. Plans to retire as a therapist were accelerated by the Covid lockdown. However she continued to assist with exercise classes online for the Creative Living Centre and the ME Group, attend online seminars and read about Somatics, and anything to do with the bodymind connection.
Final years
In the final few years of her life, asthma and COPD restricted her activities. Both lockdown and retirement were very difficult for someone as sociable as Barbara.
In 2022 we moved to Horsforth in Leeds, partly to be closer to our younger grandchild Robert. At first Barbara's breathing improved but a series of health scares dogged the last few years of her life. Though she seemed resilient, these took a toll on her and overcame her in the Autumn and Winter of 2024..
