Tributes paid to Norwich Christian pioneer – Peter Barnes

Tributes have been paid to former Norwich police superintendent, Christian youthwork champion, tireless social action organizer and Good News newspaper pioneer Peter Barnes, who has died at the age of 85.
 

Peter was born in January 1939 in the Thorpe area of Norwich. He was named John Peter Barnes and his elder sister who was five at the time didn’t like the name John, so he was always known as Peter. During the war, at the age of three, Peter, along with his sister, was evacuated to a Lancashire town. 

Peter returned to Norwich in 1944 to attend the City of Norwich School before joining the Police in 1958 at the age of 19. Peter reached the rank of Superintendent and was selected for a special course at Bramshill Training College where he received the Bramshill scholarship. During his time with the police, he was the Chair of the Norfolk Christian Police Association and the Vice Chair of the Christian Police Association in Britain. Peter loved playing sport, and represented the police in most sports throughout his career.

His Christian faith was central to Peter’s life. He became a Christian while at a youth group – where he met his wife Wendy. They married in 1960 at Chapel Field Road Methodist Church and had three children - Stephanie, Ginnie and Ashley. Peter was grandad to eight and great-grandad to five. 

Peter was a local methodist preacher, and later moved to Dereham Road Baptist Church, which then merged with St Mary’s to become Norwich Central Baptist Church.

Peter was always open to new experiences and expanding his knowledge. He completed a BA Honours in economics and mathematics at UEA as well as a diploma in management studies. He used his positions of responsibility to benefit others; he was heavily involved in setting up the Norwich night shelter to house people experiencing homelessness. He was involved in the ‘down to earth’ mission with Eric Delve, setting up a property on Rose Lane to use for evangelism to introduce young people to Jesus.

Peter’s daughter Ginnie said: “Dad was passionate about exposing people to different things. If there was a new Christian conference or camp we would go – we went to Greenbelt the first or second year it ran, and to Spring Harvest right from the start. He was always showing us that God was bigger than what happened inside a church. Mum and Dad loved hosting and they shared their house with everyone and anyone. We always had people staying.”

In 1988, Peter retired from his position in the police and took up an unpaid role as the Eastern European link for Christian charity Saltmine, where he set up orphanages in Russia, Albania and Bulgaria. Peter led many mission trips to Bulgarian orphanages throughout the 1990s to offer support and encouragement to the staff and children.

The desire to nurture the faith of young people was a passion for Peter. He became a qualified youth leader and was on the board of British Youth for Christ and Norwich Youth For Christ. Peter, along with Wendy, actively supported young people in the church, running the TROGs (The Rather Older Group) while at Dereham Road Baptist Church. He was also Chair of Trustees of YMCA Norfolk during the leadership of John Drake.

Another of Peter’s achievements was to be the founder and driving force behind the very successful Good News for Norwich & Norfolk newspaper project back in 1992, along with editor Keith Morris. It has since published over 100 editions over 32 years, printing around 2 million copies. 

Editor, Keith Morris, said: “Peter was the rock on which the Good News was first established and then flourished over some 22 years. It simply would not have been possible to continue over all that time, and reach that many people with so many stories from a vibrant Christian community, without his efforts and for that I and the rest of the team and readers are forever grateful."

A thanksgiving service for Peter Barnes will be held at Norwich Central Baptist Church, Duke Street, Norwich NR3 3AP at 12.30pm on Monday 23rd September. 
 

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