ROYAL Wootton Bassett is set to welcome a new vicar after The Reverend Vicki Burrows accepted the post at St Bartholomew and All Saints Church.

She will take up the post of Priest-in-Charge of the parish of Royal Wootton Bassett and the Rural Dean of Calne Deanery later this year on September 18.

The 53-year-old is currently rector of St Mary’s in Long Ditton, Surrey.

The mother of five sons said: “I was really excited to be offered this post. I of course know of Royal Wootton Bassett from the repatriations several years ago. I’m looking forward to coming to the town and taking on a fresh challenge.

“Here in Long Ditton I work closely with the community, from young families to older people, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the community in Royal Wootton Bassett.

“I’m also looking forward to taking up the role of rural dean, supporting the clergy in the rural parishes.”

She discovered her faith in her 20s and was ordained in her 40s after a career working in her family’s evening- and cocktail-wear dress manufacturing business.

She said: “I was asked to run a Sunday School where about 50 or 60 children attended and for ten years people came up to me and said that I should be a vicar.

“As time went on I came to realise that God was calling me to ordained ministry – and I have loved every moment of it since I was ordained in Guildford Cathedral in 2004.”