A WINCHESTER church community has welcomed a new priest with a special service.
Led by Revd David Williams, Bishop of Basingstoke, the service at St Barnabas Church in Weeke saw a full congregation welcome Revd Ed Dines.
Area Dean, Revd Paul Kennedy, and Archdeacon Ven Canon Michael Harley – himself a curate of the church some 35 years ago - were also present.
Mayor of Winchester Cllr Angela Clear, councillors Helen Osborne and Anne Weir, as well as clergy and leaders of other local churches and charitable organisations turned up.
St Barnabas Choir with Barnies Community Choir sang The Lord is My Shepherd and a video was screened from St Philip’s in Yei, South Sudan, which St Barnabas has been partnered with over a number of years.
Revd Dines was previously a curate in Knights Enham in Andover and many of his former parishioners came to wish him well.
He was previously a teacher in the UK and Germany, studied at Trinity College Bristol and was ordained in 2011.
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