A VICAR who has spent five and a half years working in Birtsmorton is swapping the countryside for Lancashire.

Dr Arthur Cunningham, parish vicar for Hollybush, Berrow, Pendock and Eldersfield, as well as Birtsmorton, is to start work in Leigh, near Manchester, after his final service at Birtsmorton Church on Sunday, July 27.

"It's sad to leave here but I'm taking lots of happy memories with me and I'm looking forward to the new opportunity," said Dr Cunningham.

"Having spent so long working in the lee of the Malvern Hills it's going to be very different up there."