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Right up to the end, Barry cared for his community
• My wife and I were greatly saddened to learn of the premature death of Barry Sullivan.
He worked hard to defend the dispossessed and those without a voice in our broken society.
Our community is the less for the loss of him.
He faced death with courage and equanimity. The last time I met him, a few weeks ago, in our local store, he looked more rested, more at peace with himself and the world than I had ever known him.
To the end, he cared about his community. We talked about Edith Neville school and he drew a parallel between how the parents of Edith Neville children were being smeared and in the same way that officers of the council had sought to traduce his reputation.
He was right.
There is a disgraceful tendency, at the officers level of Camden, to badmouth and seek to undermine all those who challenge council decisions.
It is the most singular and most unpleasant feature of this council. Its effects can be charted in the pages of this newspaper.
I have been shocked, but not surprised, to see that this fatal bureaucratic flaw goes as high as the directorate level of Camden.
Heather Schroeder’s smearing of the Edith Neville parents spoke volumes. It is all too typical of the bunkered mentality of Camden Town Hall. Her, and Andrew Marshall’s, comments are beneath contempt.
The political, elected members of the council should insist that Moira Gibb, chief executive, banish this shameful practice by council officers.
Barry Sullivan suffered greatly because unaccountable officials sought to smear and assassinate his character.
Members of the council should ensure that this practice ceases forthwith.
It would go a long way to cleansing the Augean stables in Judd Street and rebalancing the relationship between citizens and state.
I can think of no more fitting tribute to the memory of Barry Sullivan.
PAUL LETTAN
Oakshott Court, NW1
His anger was intact
• WHOEVER might still believe that there is some justice in the world, prepare to accept what most of us have known for years.
The person whose life was dedicated, literally, 24/7 to helping other people has died of virulent pancreatic cancer, leaving behind thousands of people, mainly but not all Camden residents, feeling bereft.
Barry Sullivan did not “go gently into that good night”. He died with his anger intact against the authorities who treated the poor and vulnerable, so badly. Not being a politician, he could not believe the betrayal of those who professed such good intentions, only to pretend the problems did not exist once they could grab power by ignoring them.
Barry was the heart, lungs, core and driving power behind Camden Town Neighbourhood Advice Centre.
When Camden used 40 police drafted in from elsewhere to evict the centre, which served thousands of the most vulnerable people, he continued to see everyone in my front room or visit them in their homes, if they had one. He used the night as well as the day. During the small hours I would hear through my sleep a shuffling and sometimes a voice talking to my cats. When I awoke the CTNAC post would have gone.
CTNAC, through Barry, had an enormous success rate at tribunals, Those who came to us felt supported, “Barry is on my case, something will get done.” Frequently the housing department told our clients not to use us. But most of them would not be swayed.
Barry was hounded, lied about and treated abominably by council officers. Councillor John Mills once told me that he had never met opposition from officers to any organisation that he met when he attempted to save the centre.
When I sat for a while in the hospice holding Barry’s hand as he lay dying, the nurse said: “Every time I come to tend to him, there is someone different with him.”
I told her that we are all his family. He was loved and admired by thousands for his ability to help everyone and judge no one.
There are thousands of people in Camden who will mourn the loss of a real people’s champion. He was unique and irreplaceable.
I always told Barry I didn’t want to become one of his “old ladies” – I never dreamt I would never have that opportunity!
GLORIA LAZENBY
NW1
Truly a gentleman
• WHETHER you had known Barry Sullivan for most of your life or only had a brief encounter he made a lasting impression and touched something in us all.
He had been an actor in his early years and he had such a presence, greeting everyone he met with such grace and charm that made each of us feel like a million dollars and the most important person for those moments we were with him.
Barry had such a range of skills that whatever he turned his hand to he excelled at – he certainly could have had a glittering career in acting and he was also very creative and a skilled craftsmen. He was a great “host”, which many know from the days of his club in the High Street.
I hope that we can all try to aspire to keep Barry’s legacy of always extending the helping hand to those in need and in his work as adviser for CTNAC and in life generally his acceptance of people for whoever they were, always seeing the best in people and never judging or turning away those that others may have turned their backs on. His life was all the richer for this, with such an array of close friends and acquaintances throughout his time in Camden and in the entertainment business.
He was strangely a man who listened, although many of us think of him as an orator.
That is why so many people turned to him. He would quietly sit and listen and often you would not know how closely he had listened and taken in and formed a view, which he might quietly keep to himself if he felt that it would offend.
He was truly a gentleman, in many ways an old-fashioned romantic who wished to give love to all he met as he wished that they might show him love in return.
CATHY POUND
Camden Town Neighbourhood Advice Centre
Beacon in darkness
• TO me and my family, and many local residents Barry Sullivan was a beacon in the darkness that sometimes encompasses Camden.
He worked so hard all his life, as a tenants’ and residents’ association chair on two estates, I believe, and then as the guiding light of CTNAC for so many years.
He helped so many who were vulnerable; so many whose first language was not English; so many who were disabled in many ways. Either by skilled and gentle advice from the old offices at Greenland Road taken from CTNAC by an appalling lack of understanding by Camden Council or from Gloria Lazenby’s home, so generously provided, or latterly from his own home in Greenland Road.
I was there when, in pain and stress in his final illness, he answered phone calls from people requiring advice, although he was under medication
He cared; he loved all people. I am humbly happy that I had the pleasure of being a friend, a colleague and worked on housing and other cases with Barry.
We will all miss him, his work, his love for his community, his brilliant advice on phone or at tribunals representing them.
He was a great guy and Camden will miss him.
Thanks to those who looked after him during his last few months, Cathy, Ben, Anthony, Red Jen and all the others.
Thanks to Marie Curie Centre – so helpful, so comforting to Barry and others seeking their help.
Rest in peace, dear friend. We will carry on your ideals and work for those who need it so much. Your old friend and comrade,
CLLR ROGER ROBINSON
Labour, St Pancras and Somers Town ward
No one like him
• BARRY Sullivan was an extraordinary person, and it was a privilege to work with him at CTNAC. There was hardly a time of day or night that Barry wasn’t available to help a client or a friend. There was no one like Barry.
PAUL TOMLINSON
Harrington Square, NW1
More Articles on Barry Sullivan:
John Gulliver 4 September
John Gulliver 11 September
Obituary
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