Itching to climb - Barbara James

Having grown up with eczema and allergies, Barbara James hated being different from class mates. Despite this, after four years teaching in a secondary school, with weekends spent in the hills, in 1964 she became a full time mountaineering instructor and a mountain rescue first aider. 1976 brought divorce and job loss. With a mortgage to pay she became the first and she believes the only woman civilian to be employed by the MOD to train soldiers. During her time at the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion in Folkestone her many useful, unique experiences included participating in some Northern Ireland training, going through Check Point Charlie before the wall came down, learning to fire a 7.52 mm selfloading rifle and leading expeditions to St Kilda.After taking early retirement she was the second person, and probably the first female, to go alone to the magical Falkland Islands soon after the conflict. Then her 50th birthday present to herself was to gain a Private Pilot's Licence and year later she flew 40 hours solo in a Cessna around Florida. But nothing she has done was as challenging as surviving, alone, the furiously tourist evenings in Tenerife's Playa de Las Americas. It was the solace of the magical El Teide National Park and the genuine, spontaneous kindness of the Canarians that ensured her return. After four years she'd learned enough Spanish to rent an apartment in Adeje village. Here she learned to play guitar in their night school class and was invited to participate in El Pasion, their very moving televised re-enactment of the crucifixion. Since 1964, with the exception of three years, her home has been in Gwynedd.