Here at The World of James Herriot we often get letters and emails from grateful visitors or enthusiastic fans. This always makes us proud as we are keepers, if you like, of Alf Wight’s legacy to the world. A recent email is reproduced below with the kind permission of the sender:
Thank you so much for the score of “Parchment”. It has been a favourite at our home for many years, and now we know what it is I will “bribe” my daughters to learn it on the piano. Let me take this opportunity to tell you how much my two daughters and I enjoyed the Herriot museum. The exhibits were informative, diverse in nature, and intelligent, and the museum got us discussing how rare a thing Alf Wight’s contribution to the world was. It got us wondering how many other exemplars there are of autobiographical stories with a positive message that are published to great critical and popular acclaim, that have also been made into films or television series that have been as popular as ACG&S has been. We thought of Little House on the Prairie, which you may or may not know, which shares those features, but couldn’t think of others. By complete chance, while on holiday in Yorkshire my daughters and I are staying at a B&B which is owned by a now-retired veterinarian and his wife, and the vet actually knew both “James Herriot” and”Siegfried Farnon,” and had very nice things to say about both of them. The world often astonishes me. We wish you all the best in your work for the museum, and thank you for all that you do. We will most definitely enjoy the music.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Andelson
Iowa, USA
Whilst James Herriot’s fans are certainly dotted all over the world, the Americans in our experience – talking to visitors and reading their comments in our visitors’ book – seem to have taken him to their hearts far more dearly than any other nationality – unless you, dear reader, from your own corner of this big wide world, begs to differ!
