Many of you will remember our long-time volunteer Barry Cooper who sadly died last year. His funeral was at Bath Abbey in December and Genesis staff and volunteers attended his funeral. 

Over the years Barry was involved in the Soup Run, the Sunday Centre and Bath Foodbank, giving up a lot of his time to serve homeless and vulnerable people in our community. 

Grainne Moher, Bath Foodbank Manager, who worked with him most recently, remembers, ‘Nothing was too much trouble for him, he always wanted to help.’ 

A few weeks back, we had a wonderful gift from none other than Barry. Unbeknown to Genesis, Barry had left a gift in his Will to support Genesis after he died. His gift comes at a time full of challenges for Genesis and our clients, with a new temporary location for our programmes and renovations needed for our premises on London Road. 

Barry, of course, will not have known anything about these new challenges, but has trusted that his gift could and will be put to good use by Genesis after his death. 

Peter Heywood, founder and trustee of Genesis Trust said, ‘I am so grateful to Barry for his incredibly generous support of what we do.’ 

A Lived Legacy 

Paul Solly, Lifeline Manager at Genesis Life Projects remembers Barry being heavily involved with the Soup Run back when he started in 2001. Barry was the Soup Run leader for Bath Abbey for many years, organising the team who gave soup and hot food to anyone who needed it in the city centre. 

Through the Abbey, Barry also volunteered regularly for the Sunday Centre, a Genesis project which ran for many years, serving hot meals to people at Nexus Methodist Church.  

Barry had been volunteering for Bath Foodbank for a long time too, first at the warehouse in Batheaston, then as a volunteer delivery driver during COVID, taking parcels to people’s homes. He then continued at the warehouse in West Avenue, sorting and organising donated food. 

Grainne said, ‘I had the pleasure of getting to know Barry mainly when he volunteered as a delivery driver for us. He delivered parcels to people every week and would always check when he had finished his round to see if another needed doing. He would also always take the time to chat with people when dropping the parcel and come back to let us know how they were doing. He was an incredibly kind and generous man who is missed by all who knew him.’ 

Barry stepped down from Bath Foodbank in 2023 because of his health but stayed in touch as he was hoping to return.   

Genesis volunteer Peter Windebank, who also worships at the Abbey told us, ‘I got to know Barry quite well in his final illness and one of the reasons I admired him so much was the immense modesty with which he approached his many and considerable acts of kindness and generosity.’ 

We are so grateful to Barry, not only for all the ways he volunteered over the many years, but how he continues to support us after death through the gift left in his Will.  

Thank you, Barry for your incredible support.