A thanksgiving service for the famous BBC journalist Harry Gration was held at York Minster on Monday, August 1.
Hundreds of mourners lined the streets for the funeral of TV presenter Harry after the father of six died suddenly on June 24, 2022, at age 71.
The thanksgiving service began at 11:30 am.
Journalists including Christine Talbot and Christa Ackroyd and retired cricket stars Geoffrey Boycott and Dickie Bird were in attendance for the event.
During the service, Gration’s sons paid a tribute to their extraordinary father.
In a speech, sons Harrison, who sang At The River by Aaron Copeland amid the service, and Harry said, ‘We are so thankful and so honoured to have dad as part of our lives.’
Gration’s wife Helen, 53, thanked attendees for coming, iterating that it meant a lot to the family.
‘We know that to everyone Harry was a friend, and we know that we shared him with many. But to us, he was husband, dad, and daddy, and we loved him totally,’ she said.
‘He hoped he might fill a pew or two at our local church. He worried always that it might conflict with a match on the telly. So, I can sense him assessing today with some embarrassment but also some bashful pride. Modesty was always his go-to place,’ Helen added.
The former Archbishop of York John Sentamu gave an address at the service.
Harry John Gration MBE DL born October 22, 1950, was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was one of the main anchors for the BBC Yorkshire regional magazine programme Look North.
He spent four decades at Yorkshire’s Look North news programme from 1982 up until his final show in 2020.
Harry Gration was married three times and had six children.