On the morning of 24 March, Beth Hayward, took out her iPhone and snapped her husband right at the start of lockdown. She didn’t begin to imagine that the photo would one day form part of an exhibition by the National Portrait Gallery.
Revd Tim Hayward is the vicar at St Boniface Bunbury. “I remember it was just after Boris had announced lockdown. We went to church, put photos of people from the parish on the pews - 350 smiling faces in all. The next day my wife and I went back to the church and she took a photo.”
Tim and Beth, had no great aspirations for the picture and simply used it on the church website and Facebook page. Then they heard from Lynn Hedgecoe, a new “virtual” parishioner who had only recently engaged with St Boniface as a result of the online services that were being produced due to the coronavirus restrictions. Lynn had seen the photo on Facebook and said she’d heard that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton was organising a “Hold Still” lockdown photography project, in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery - to capture “the spirit of the nation” during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tim and Beth submitted their photo and were recently surprised when they were informed that their photo had been selected to be part of the exhibition.
There were over 30,000 entries and just 100 were chosen. Moreover, the photo (shown right) has featured in many newspaper articles, announcing the final 100. The digital exhibition will launch on 14 September and a selection of photos will be shown in venues across the UK later in the year.