| Description | Diaries of Barbara Roscoe’s expedition to the Himalayas in the company of Jo Scarr, Dorothea Gravina, Nancy Smith, Denise Evans and Pat Wood.
The story of their adventure in 1961-1962 is told in the book “Four Miles High”, (London, 1966).
Their trip was a great success - driving a Land Rover to India and back, and climbing two previously unclimbed peaks of 6,000m in the Kulu district.
The diaries are detailed and highly descriptive and provide an insight into the experience of an adventurous group of women, their trials and tribulations and the hazards they faced during their travels. It is a colourful and exciting account and often humorous.
Since there is some duplication within these diaries, it is unclear whether they were written by Barbara Roscoe (née Spark) during her journey or were written later, when the opportunity arose, based on notes taken by her - as seen in the loosely inserted pages of the 3rd diary (BMSS/40380) |
| AdminHistory | Barbara was born Barbara Mary Spark on the 11th April 1936, in Birkenhead. Soon after the war, the family settled in Bagillt, a small village between Flint and Holywell. Both Barbara and her elder sister, Jean, went to Merllyn Junior School, and later to Holywell Grammar School. It was here that Barbara’s sporting prowess became obvious and she made the first teams in both tennis and hockey at a much younger age than was normal. She represented Flintshire Schools at hockey.
Barbara trained as a PE teacher at I.M. Marsh College of Physical Education in Liverpool, and then taught at a secondary girls’ school in Liverpool for four years. During this time she rock climbed while on courses at Plas-y-Brenin, where she first met Jo Scarr, who has remained a lifelong friend. Jo was planning a trip to the Himalayas and invited a restless Barbara to be her companion. The story of their year-long trip in 1961 to 1962 is told in the book 'Four Miles High' by Josephine Scar..
Their trip was a great success, driving a Land-rover to India and back, and climbing two unclimbed peaks of 20,000 feet in the Kulu Himalaya. They taught in a pre-school in Delhi over the winter and then joined the women's Jagdula expedition to the unexplored Kanjiroba Himal in N.W. Nepal, making first ascents of six unclimbed peaks.
When they returned to Wales in mid-1962, Barbara became an instructor at Plas-y-Brenin. In 1964, Barbara had a climbing accident on Pillar Rock in the Lake District when a belay gave way. The significant injuries she suffered plagued her for the rest of her life.
In 1965, Barbara was invited by Sir Charles Evans to start a PGCE, teacher training, course in Outdoor Activities at Bangor University, the first in the UK, where she continued her respected work in Outdoor Education until her retirement in 1983.
Barbara met her beloved Don initially at Plas-y-Brenin, and later worked with him at Bangor. They married in 1975. Barbara remained devoted to Don throughout over 40 years of marriage.
Exploiting a creative talent which probably came from her mother, Barbara took up art after her retirement, completing a Foundation course, and the first year of a Fine Art degree. Art became a passion of Barbara’s; she was a prolific painter and had a number of successful exhibitions.
Barbara remained physically active well into her retirement. She and Don cycled around the world in 1988/89, following the summer through Asia, Australia, New Zealand and America. Together they fished, walked, climbed, cycled and canoed regularly until a series of knee and ankle operations in the early 2000’s restricted her adventurous activity.
Barbara was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005. Despite the limitations and challenges of her final years, Barbara remained her positive and enthusiastic self, enjoying support from a host of friends, neighbours, family and ex-students. She was able to remain in her much-loved Bwlch-y-Fron home throughout her illness, thanks to the help of her devoted, full-time carers from 2016. |