Hi Gary,
Barn Owl Bill is a a person who lives in the area where the Lancashire care homes operate and he takes care of injured birds of prey, by the way of coincidence he operates a registered charity as well, but this charity concerns itself with the care of wild life , particulary the feathered variety.
I imagine he was brought in to give out instruction and entertainment to the residents on all aspects of preying as apposed to praying . By law the care homes have to give their residents some form of stimulus other than the reading of the Society's publications so what better way than spending an afternoon in the care home back garden with someone flying the odd barn owl ,bald eagle and hawk and giving a few demonstrations on swooping down from a great height on to an unsuspecting victim. Unfortunately lions and tigers were not allowed in the garden on the grounds of health and safety. I imagine the instruction went along the lines of ," Brothers and sisters, this will give you some idea of what you get to do when you get out of this place and into the New World ,so pay particular attention to brudder Barn Owl,and for your own safety don't be eating those meat paste sandwiches during the fly past .
I think, by the way, that the Society must have some kind of input into the running of these care homes because of the Kingdom Hall attachment . But the Governing Body are canny, they will not be seen to be involved just in case it goes pear shaped, then they can always turn round and say, "nothing to do with us."