Hillsborough stories: Barry Glover

Barry Glover was a greengrocer from Bury and travelled to Hillsborough with his father, George Glover, and three friends by car, who all survived the tragedy.

This is the full statement to the inquests read by his wife, Stephanie Sweeney:

Barry Glover was born on 30 March, 1962 in Bury, Lancashire, and was the oldest of four children.

His mum, Florence, and his Dad, George, split up when he was young. He lived with his Mum and three sisters: Annette, Lesley and Marilyn.

He attended the local primary and secondary school and on leaving school started work as a trainee manager at the Co-operative Store in Bury.

Unfortunately, the store closed and Barry lost his position. Barry then went to work with his Dad. This was initially in the building industry. However, they soon decided to set up in business as a greengrocer.

They then progressed to their first shop at Dundee Lane, Ramsbottom. As this became established, they invested in a large van that could be used as a mobile shop. Barry had no driving licence, so they employed someone to drive the van while Barry served in it.

Eventually, Barry took over the driving and they invested in an ex-British Gas van which they converted.

He delivered to the local village areas, where it was difficult to get to the shops, such as Holcombe Village and Strongstry, and managed to deliver whatever the weather. Many of the older customers came to rely on him for other jobs, such as changing light bulbs.

For some customers, he was the only human contact they had for most of the week. This was supported by the many letters I received after his death.

As the business continued to grow, the decision was made to move to a larger shop across the road. This meant employing more staff and opening longer hours.

Working together

Barry and his Dad worked long hours and together they decided to open on Sundays and also for a couple of hours on Christmas Day.

Barry used to finish his rounds on the van around 6pm and would then clean and restock for the following day. In the run-up to Christmas, they would spend time in the shop after it had closed, making hampers for customers to make sure everyone had supplies for the Christmas period.

It was Barry's intention to take over the business from his Dad and then expand it.

I met Barry at a local charity event in the Grants Arms pub at the beginning of 1984 and we got engaged on 18 March, 1985. We bought our first house together the same year, but didn't live together as the house needed a lot of work doing to it.

Barry decided to move into the house and try to do the work on the house in the evenings when he finished work. I wasn't always able to help as I was training to be a nurse and worked shifts.

I had been offered a position at the Westminster Hospital in London but decided to train in Bolton after meeting Barry.

'Surprise honeymoon'

We were married a year later on 7 June, 1986 at Emmanuel Church, Holcombe Village. Barry arranged a surprise honeymoon, enlisting my Mum's help in packing my suitcase. I only knew where we were going when we reached the airport.

We had a one-week honeymoon in Zante, which was much quieter in those days than it is today. The only down point was that it rained a lot.

For the first year of our marriage most of our savings were spent on the house. However, we did go to visit our best man, who lived in Portsmouth, and took day trips to places of cultural interest, such as York.

For our second wedding anniversary, we decided to go to Florida. On the actual day of our anniversary, Barry booked a meal at Disney World as a surprise. It was the most amazing holiday, as we had only been abroad twice in our lives and neither of us had been to America.

We tried to fit as much as we could into two weeks, hiring a car and travelling to Tampa Bay and St Petersburg as well as to the Orlando area. We came back with some amazing memories, which I am happy about, as within 12 months of this Barry had died, so these were all I had left.

Although we both worked hard, Barry had many hobbies. He used to run the Manchester Marathon and also played pool and football for the local pub teams.

'Thoughtful and kind'

He enjoyed fishing and I would sometimes take him fishing early and he would then go on to work.

We also had two dogs, Tina and Tess, and Barry used to take Tina, a German Shepherd, to obedience training in Bury. I remember that he was really proud when they won an award.

We liked to go out for meals regularly, and had a theatre card, which allowed us to experience all the latest shows that came to Manchester. We used to try to go with friends at least once a month.

Barry had always been a Liverpool fan and would try to finish his rounds on the van early on a Saturday to allow him to go to their home games. He sometimes attended other matches which were close to home, including Manchester City with my brother, who is an avid City fan.

Barry even took me to watch Bury, our local team, when they were playing evening matches. He always tried to get tickets for Wembley if Liverpool were playing there.

Barry was a very thoughtful, kind and caring husband, son, brother, son-in-law and friend who worked hard and always had time for others. He cared about his elderly customers that went beyond that of the local shopkeeper and was more like a social worker or carer.

'Streets lined'

Barry loved what he did, and I think he hoped to take over and expand the business he had with his father and that any children we would have had would have the opportunity to take over the business from him.

When I look at the ideas that are around at the moment such as home delivery, Sunday opening and specialist hampers, I feel sad that he is not able to see how the ideas that he and his Dad had years ago are now commonplace.

Barry's funeral was held on Friday, 21 April, 1989. I remember that the streets were lined with people and the church in which we were married was packed.

It was clear that Barry was so well thought of by not only his friends and family, but also by the local community as well. Thank you.