s a lighthouse keeper, Barry had much opportunity over the years of his service life to study and develop his painting and drawing skills. He was an Assistant Lighthouse Keeper employed by Trinity House for over 18 years mainly stationed on the West Coast District, and made great use of his time spent on lighthouses around the English and Welsh coast to study and paint birds, marine scenes with lighthouses, and canal or river landscapes.

His duties as a lighthouse keeper meant that he worked 28 days on then 28 days off the lighthouse unless, as automation took hold, he was transferred from a permanent posting to the Pool of keepers who were used to fill in for sickness or vacant positions on other lights within the Trinity House Lighthouse Service. Eventually, the complete automation of all the lighthouses made redundancy inevitable.

Barry's first 18 months service was spent as a Supernummary on the Swansea District and postings varied from a week to 5 weeks on various lighthouses from Hartland Point in Nth. Devon to St. Bees on the Cumbrian coast. For each of these temporary visits Barry would load up his motorcycle with painting equipment, personal effects and uniform  then set off from his home in Cardiganshire for the light in question. The first was Strumble head lighthouse near Fishguard, where he turned up in a howling gale, rain, roaring seas and the wailing noise of the wind in the overhead crane wires to a warm welcome from the Principal Keeper, the late Bert Smith.

Skerries Lighthouse, Anglesey

Subsequently Barry received a permanent posting to the notorious Wolf Rock Lighthouse which is situated 8 miles S.West of Lands End, Cornwall in some the country's roughest seas. He spent over 3 years there before being transferred to the Skerries Light off Holyhead, Nth. Wales. Following this, a brief 3 month sojourn to Europa Point Lighthouse, Gibraltar for holiday relief duties was made more pleasant by the recent opening of the border with Spain and meant that Barry could again motorcycle from his home to Europa Point. Upon his return to UK waters, the Skerries had been demanned due to automation so a 5 year spell in the Pool began before his final posting to St.Anne's Head Lighthouse near the entrance to Milford Haven Sound, Pembrokeshire. It was from here that he was made redundant in May 1996, only to take up, 18 months later, the position of Attendant for Blacknore Lighthouse on the banks of the Severn Estuary near Avonmouth, Bristol.