Biografisk notat

John Barrow was born in Birmingham in 1932. After primary and grammar school there, and two years of National Service, he studied for an Honours degree in Geography at Birmingham University. After graduation, he was appointed as a junior research assistant in the Cheshire County Council Town & Country Planning Department. During the three years there, he gained a special diploma in Town Planning from Manchester University and membership of the Town Planning Institute. He served on the staff of three county councils until he retired from Oxfordshire as Director of Planning & Property Services. He and his wife Janet (Jan) moved to Llanbadoc and lived in a cottage at Lower Prescoed, for over twenty years. In the first five years, he served as a local plans inspector in the Department of the Environment. Subsequently he became Chairman of Llanbadoc Community Council, then Secretary and Chairman of Usk Civic Society in which time many of the blue wall plaques and multi-coloured pavement plaques were installed in Usk. Jan wrote and published three books on local history. They moved into Usk about 10 years ago, where sadly Jan died in 2014.