A Sabbatical Journal: Woodstock

The back-filling begins.....

Covered Bridge, Woodstock

Woodstock, Vermont is the quintessential New England small town. It has a covered bridge, clapboard houses and a village green with a 19th century, very English-looking, episcopal church at one end. Kathryn and I had visited Woodstock ten years ago on our first ever visit to New England, staying in a B & B for a couple of nights. Never in a thousand years could we have imagined that it would one day be the scene of a momentous family celebration.

St James Episcopal Church

Tim, our younger son, had met Susan Goehring at Middlebury College in Vermont during the overseas year of his degree course at Nottingham University. Their romance blossomed when they both found themselves working in New York a couple of years later and they were married in St Irene's Roman Catholic Church, Carlisle, Massachusetts in August 2011. It was a wonderful occasion, but only the immediate families were able to attend. It was our opportunity to meet for the first time our new American 'in-laws', Rob and Luanne Goehring, Susan's sister, Kristyn, her husband David and their young son, Colin. But the occasion was arranged at short notice with no chance to plan a reception or invite friends from the UK and across the States. So, when they had moved to Bethel, Vermont after the wedding, planning began in earnest for an epic celebration in 2012, in Woodstock, a few miles away.

Woodstock Inn

We left the UK on Thursday 9 August, flying with Aer Lingus via Shannon on the west coast of Ireland to Boston and travelling with Andrew (Best Man in 2011 and 2012) and Jenny, and my brother-in-law, Keith and sister-in-law, Angie. Jessica, a 'bridesmaid', had flown out three days earlier. US immigration have an outpost in Shannon and you 'enter' the USA there. There were a tense few minutes when I was taken out of line for an interview, apparently because I had the same name as someone on their watch list. Arriving eventually in Boston, we picked up rental cars and drove the two and a half hours on the Interstates through Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Woodstock, and the Woodstock Inn, on the Green, where the reception would be taking place, in the 'Rockefeller Room'. Imagine a son of mine having a wedding reception in a 'Rockefeller Room'!

Rehearsal Dinner

While final preparations were made by the main participants on Friday, there was chance to explore the town before the Rehearsal Dinner at the Quechee Inn. The rehearsal dinner is an American wedding tradition which gives opportunity for the bridal party and partners to relax and get to know one another better on the eve of the big day. It was fun, and the celebrations continued afterwards back at the Woodstock Inn bar as guests began to assemble. We were joined by all the wonderful American friends we had made over the last ten years: Tad Meyer, and his wife Ann Stevenson, who had first invited us to New England, for me to preach during the centenary celebrations at St John's, Beverly Farms, in 2002; Bill Wrede, the Lutheran pastor from New York, who turned up on the doorstep of Beverley Minster Vicarage on a wet February afternoon and who showed such kind and generous hospitality to Tim over his first Christmas so far away from home; and John and Marion Leonard, his 'host parents' in Middlebury, who also demonstrated exceptional kindness to him during his year there. We never cease to be amazed at how our circles of friendship have widened across the Atlantic since that first visit in 2002 and Tim's first sojourn there in 2004/5.

Saturday dawned warm and bright, and spent the morning enjoying a local food festival on the streets of Woodstock. Sadly, though, the weather turned against us before the big event, which began at 4.00 p.m. We arrived at the church under umbrellas, as did the 'bridal party', who had been for photographs to the nearby Billings Farm. A memorable service of Thanksgiving and Rededication was led by Tad Meyer, with family members and Tad's wife, Ann, taking part. Then it was back to the Woodstock Inn and the Rockefeller Room for an evening that was as good as it gets. There was great food and drink; Tim, Andrew, and three of the bridesmaids made outstanding speeches; and as the night wore on, transatlantic friendships were forged, with the older generations seeking the relative quiet of the lobby as the youngsters stepped up the pace on the dance floor.

The pictures tell the story of a day, and a night, that will never be forgotten.