Bill and Marion

Today was the launch of 'Bury As It Were' a collection of stories, poems and memories of Bury, written by a group of people as part of the 'Tell Us Another One' project. I had co-illustrated the book with an artist called Lee Tisdall and today was our first chance to see the finished book, meet the authors and celebrate together.

Fortunately all the authors loved our illustrations (we were a bit nervous). This is Marion and her husband Bill. I illustrated her piece 'My Husband and I' about their lives, their wedding and their long marriage. Even before I met her I had a great fondness for her from reading her work and I was not disappointed. She is lovely and read her piece so beautifully I was close to tears. Inevitably when we finally did meet there were tears and we celebrated the fact that we are a pair of big softies. It felt great to have done something for them which they were so pleased with and which I knew they would cherish.

Cartwheel Arts, who run the project, put on a great afternoon of readings, food and presentations. It was a real celebration of the creativity of the group, the mayor was in attendance and each author was presented with one of their pieces and accompanying illustration beautifully framed. Lee and I were thrilled to also be presented with our own versions.

I love my job.