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About Me

My name is Barry and I currently work for the Hampshire Library & Information Service. I originally come from Ashford in Kent, but now live in Basingstoke.

After leaving school in 1990 I completed two years of a teaching degree at King Alfred's College in Winchester. Although it was clear that teaching wasn't for me, I became interested in walking (I had enjoyed cycling for some years) and studying old churches, and became acquainted with a number of Hampshire and Kent churches during 1991-92. I also spent several days studying Winchester Cathedral which was a revelation.

In 1992 I transferred to the second year of a music degree course at the Colchester Institute, and received a first class honours degree in 1994. These two years were intellectually a high point for me, as I enthusiastically listened to and studied large amounts of music, particularly the piano concertos of Mozart and Beethoven, the operas of Haydn and Verdi, and music by more contemporary composers such as Tippett and Penderecki. I also became particularly interested in the music of Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich. During this period I visited a number of Essex churches, and more Kent churches during the holidays (including Canterbury Cathedral- a further revelation).

From 1994-95 I studied at Southampton University and received an MMus in Analytical Musicology, having written a dissertation on the concertos of Brahms. I am still convinced that these concertos rank amongst the best ever written, and it cemented a general enthusiasm for the music of Brahms. Furthermore it continued an interest I had in classical concerto form, and a less academic interest in the late romantic piano concerto, recordings of which proliferated during the 1990s, thanks particularly to Hyperion. I also started to develop an interest in Renaissance music, again represented by many outstanding new CDs during the 1990s, after hearing recordings of masses by Palestrina and Josquin performed by the Tallis Scholars. During this time I visited more Hampshire and Kent churches, and particularly Wiltshire churches (including Salisbury Cathedral).

In 1995-6 I worked for a year at the Manchester Metropolitan University in the library's Technical Services department. This was not a happy time for me, but I did manage to see a few Derbyshire churches, and more significantly walk much of the high Peak District, another unforgettable revelation. In fact during the mid 1990s I developed a speciality in completing 25-35 mile walks, something I am less enthusiastic to attempt now.

After this I studied for a year at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth for my library qualification, which was again not a particularly happy time, managing only a few walks in the Welsh hills, and visiting a handful of churches and castles. When I returned home I studied quite a few East Sussex churches whilst writing a dissertation which evaluated sources used in the study of churches, including art historical methods, archaeology, written sources and pictorial sources. In addition to this I explored more Renaissance polyphonic music, including masses by Obrecht and Ludford.

After a brief spell working for Kent Library Service, I worked from 1998 to 2001 at Bracknell library. Not only did I study local churches in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Surrey, I also went on numerous cycling holidays in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Herefordshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. These were primarily to study churches, and have remained a very rewarding and memorable part of my life. The woods and hills of the Chilterns are also an abiding memory for me. In addition to this I was particularly honoured during 2000 to be best man at my brother's wedding, a wonderful and memorable event which took place in a rural part of Northumberland.

Since 2002 I have worked at Basingstoke, and during that year spent much of the summer walking in the Sussex Downs, experiencing the rich countryside and wildlife there, as well as the beautiful West Sussex churches. This all amounted to another revelation. In the past two years I have studied the cathedrals of Worcester, Hereford, Norwich and Ely, and have developed a taste for listening to choral evensong and other Anglican church music from Gibbons to Stanford and Howells. I have also developed a fascination for the music of Vaughan Williams' English contemporaries, including Moeran, Ireland, and Bax.

Early in 2003 I bought a computer and this coincided with a feeling that I wanted to do more than simply visit groups of churches as part of isolated days out. In the past few years I have also listened to much less music than I did ten years ago, and I wanted a focus to rejuvenate my interest in this area. It has therefore been with great enthusiasm, though not nearly enough skill, that I worked on baxian.org.uk during the second half of 2003, and hope that it will continue to grow during 2004 and beyond.

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