Barry Rydz obituary
My friend Barry Rydz, who has died aged 98, was a civil engineer who concentrated most of his efforts on trying to improve the UK’s water infrastructure.
He was born in Salford, Manchester, to Reuben Rydz, a proofreader on the Manchester Guardian, and Matilda (nee Lister), a teacher. His mother died when he was three, and so Barry and his older brother, David, were brought up by a maternal aunt, Kate Lister.
After attending Central High school in Manchester and then the Manchester College of Technology, during the second world war Barry joined the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and, having gained a good grounding in engineering as a result, afterwards got a job with ICI in 1947.
That move marked the beginning of a distinguished civil engineering career: his 12 years with ICI, during which he focused on the modelling of water resources, were followed by five years with Binnie and Partners (1960-65), a firm of consulting engineers. My brother Max was employed there, and it was through him that Barry and I met.
After working for Binnie and Partners on the Johore river supply to Singapore and the spillway design of the Mangla Dam in Pakistan, Barry spent nine years (1965-74) as the senior engineer and assistant director of the Water Resources Board, where he was responsible for developing an integrated water plan for England and Wales. Finally he was director of resource planning with the Severn Trent Water Authority. He retired in his 50s, frustrated by the fact that his radical plans for meeting future increases in water demand were thwarted by the government.
After retirement he increased his involvement and support for the Liberal (later Liberal Democrat) party. He was a one-time vice-chairman of the Chippenham Liberal party, chairman of its sub-branch in Box in the Cotswolds, where he lived for 57 years, and a parish councillor in Box from 1979 to 1987, in which role he was involved in the restoration of the nearby Box railway tunnel, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He also founded the Box-based charity the Gambia Connection.
Barry loved classical music and was passionate about gardening, especially in “the jungle” he created at his home.
He never married, and in his later years he became progressively more reliant on his long-term friend Alpha Baldeh, who cared for him with great dedication.