TRIBUTES have been paid to an active member of Andover's community and former senior officer in Test Valley Borough Council's technical services who has died aged 89. 

John Barrell was the only senior officer to live in Andover and he was a great support of the town and its community, writes Jill Hannington. 

Mr Barrell, and his wife Pat, were very involved in the community, helping disabled people at Enham Trust, and working with Andover Museum on the history of Andover and at the Iron Age Fort.

They were also involved with Andover Town Twinning, Andover Wine Circle, Andover Older People's Forum and many more groups, besides supporting Andover to have its own voice, and he was always in attendance at meetings.

Mr Barrell was one of the officers at Test Valley Borough Council and often stepped in to help at meetings. He didn’t like to see anyone being put down.

Andover Advertiser: John Barrell John Barrell (Image: Graham Barrell)

When he retired from the council, he and Pat found there was a lack of organisations for those in their Third Age. So Mr Barrell and Hayden Watkins decided to hold a meeting. They booked a room at The  Andover Museum and did a small advertisement, thinking not many would attend, however, they were overwhelmed with people, so the Andover U3A was born.

Mr Watkins was the first chairman; Mr Barrell was on the committee and started many of the groups. The first meetings were held at Enham Village Hall but soon this was not large enough, so they moved to Weyhill Fare Village Hall, and even that is not really big enough now.

I was the newsletter editor when Andover U3A came of age, and I and the committee thought we should have a celebration. David Laurillard, a long-standing member, kindly agreed to take some photographs, and we met at Mr and Mrs Barrell's home. 

As typical with Mr Barell, we had lots of laughter deciding on a pose for the photo. The photo appeared on the front cover of the newsletter and made it into the Andover Advertiser.

Ann Hellyer made a beautiful cake and Karen Hamilton, who was mayor at the time, came to cut it. This was a lovely happy fun afternoon with all being able to enjoy it.    

Andover Advertiser: John Barrell John Barrell (Image: Graham Barrell)

Andover U3A has approximately 450 members and many groups, and Mr Barrell was still running his genealogy group from his home until quite recently.

U3A motto is Learn, Laugh and Live - and we certainly had plenty of laughs.

John, thank you for being a loyal stalwart of Andover, a loyal colleague and for enriching so many lives in Andover and through the U3A.

John Barrell died on Saturday, September 23, aged 89. 

His funeral service will take place at 2.15pm on Friday, October 20 at St Michael and All Angels, Knights Enham followed by committal at Charlton Park Crematorium.

By Jill Hannington, former councillor and vice chair of environmental health