PARISHIONERS at Malvern's Holy Trinity Church helped the Rev Edward Cox celebrate five decades as a priest last Sunday.

Although retired, Mr Cox has helped out at a number of parishes, particularly during interregnums.

Holy Trinity's interregnum finishes on Monday, when the Bishop of Worcester will install the new vicar, the Rev Richard Rosoman.

Mr Cox (pictured) has been a familiar figure at the church since the Rev Peter Billingham retired last year. Parisioners presented him with gift vouchers as well as a basket of flowers for his wife Patricia. The couple were then guests at a sherry party.

"It's been very good, they've been so nice to us," said Mr Cox. "We knew some people there before but they have all been so welcoming."

Born in London, Rev Cox, 80, grew up in Whitstable in Kent. He served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

After the war, he went to theological college at Cuddesdon, Oxford, and was ordained at Canterbury Cathedral by the late Archbishop, the Most Rev Geoffrey Fisher.

In 1964 he acepted the post of chaplain and Head of the Divinity Department at the Abbey School, later becoming vicar of Little Malvern Priory. He stepped down from the Abbey when it merged with St James's School but continued at Little Malvern Priory until 1990, when he retired.