Barry Dean was born and raised as the third child in a family of four in Cambridge. He lived by the River Cam in the heart of the city, attending local schools and then going on to college to study Electronics in pursuit of a career in this up-and-coming industry. His parents were not affluent. They had to take in lodgers, and his mother, Joyce, often cooked ‘lunch’ for local workers to make ends meet. In fact, his father, Jack, took on two jobs; as a wireman by day and a waiter at Jesus College in the evenings. This meant Barry barely saw his father during the week and only briefly at weekends. Barry has been married to Maureen for nearly 40 years and has two grown-up sons, Adam and Nathan. When they got married, they moved to the nearby Bar Hill village and have been active members of village life as their sons grew up.

One of Barry’s passions is football. He was an avid fan of Cambridge United, even acting as a programme seller for the club for many years. However, his love of supporting his local team was soon overtaken following the birth of his first son. Barry soon took on the mantle of football coach for his local village youth teams. He coached children’s football for over 20 years, ran three youth teams, and eventually managed two adult teams once his children grew up. He also ran the village table tennis club for three years, quadrupling its participants during that time. Not content with this, Barry also became a member of the local Parish Council but had to resign after just over a year due to work and other sporting commitments.

His other big passion is Lego. As well as a bedroom full of models, he also supports the ‘First Lego League’, acting as a coach and mentor at local schools, and refereeing and supporting the competitions in Peterborough, Cambridge, and Bristol. Now, Barry spends as much spare time as he can with his two grandsons, Jamie and Tommy, playing games and just generally having fun. They can often be spotted on a bridge somewhere above a stream, playing ‘Pooh-Sticks’. Barry retired in 2020 and now spends much of his time painting, making models, and generally doing all sorts of odd jobs around his home and static caravan, which he secured just an hour and a half from home some seven years ago. Retirement has finally given Barry the opportunity to become an author, which has been on his ‘to-do’ list for many years but was never completed due to work and other commitments. Additionally, he has taken on the role of trustee and volunteer for his local village charity, the Bar Hill Community Association, which provides a wide range of activities and support for the village and surrounding area.