The Parson's Footsteps

New photographs and text

The Parson Woodforde Society celebrates the life of James Woodforde, the 18th century diarist. They hold an annual gathering (or "frolic") in locations appropriate to his life, and in 2008, it was the turn of Weston Longville, where Woodforde was incumbent until the end of his life.

The Society was delighted to welcome Pastor Keith Grogg and his wife Vivian to join in these, their 40th anniversary celebrations, and for Keith to preach at the Sunday morning Eucharist. I recorded the weekend photographically, through the gala dinner, the church service, and visits to some of the local churches mentioned in the diary, and sent the result to Keith & Vivian as a memento of their visit.

This, my first project, was created not on a commercial basis, but as a gift. However, sales of the book continue to raise funds for the Wensum Group of Churches (of which Weston Longville is a part), and Keith & Vivian were delighted with the results:

Amazingly, a week has already gone by since our lives were forever brightened by opening up the package that had been left for me in my church office! I am - WE are, we ALL are - absolutely flabbergasted. That is absolutely the niftiest gift I have ever received and could not possibly have been more welcome. Trying to teach my Sunday morning class with that thing making the rounds was absolutely ridiculous - EVERYBODY wanted to get their hands on that book! And of course when they get to the very back with the photograph of our church, half of them look like they're about to burst into tears. Absolutely amazing....

I must tell you this and you absolutely must believe me; I can prove it: it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to capture a pic of Vivian that a. looks anything remotely like her and b. is anything like a decent picture. She is for some reason just notoriously un-photogenic, and I have never been able to get a handle on why... Your photographs of her, Cassie, are PHENOMENAL - not just "good photographs," but, given the infamous difficulty of capturing the subject even adequately, they are simply astonishing. The best credit I can offer to both photographer and subject is: they look just like her, and they're beautiful. In 20 years of knowing her, I have not amassed as many good pictures of her as there are in the book. So well done, and THANK YOU!

Keith & Vivian, North Carolina

Thank you, too, to Keith & Vivian for allowing me to quote this, for allowing the book to be made public (follow the link below), and for becoming such great friends!