Kenton, Autumn 2005
Shakespeare in 'As you like it' refers to one man playing many parts and he is, of course, referring to one man in progression during his lifetime. This does, however, remind me of Graham who indeed played many parts all the time.
During the ten or so years that we were privileged to have him as our vicar, we found him to be a Bible scholar, a teacher, a friend, a wise man, an original thinker, a musician, a family man and a rock. He played all of those roles and played them with consummate skill but without apparent effort. But then he took on board the other parishes and gave no sign that he found this difficult or that he was devoting any less attention to the existing ones. One glance at his bulging appointments diary would tell the story.
One is tempted on occasions such as this to come up with the old line' A hard act to follow' but its not really appropriate here. Certainly Graham will be hard to follow but the word 'act' would be entirely inappropriate in his case. His work has been no act, it has been simply him through and through. Thank you for everything, Graham. We are going to miss you.
Village News