THE Bible says "love thy neighbour" - and two priests will be practising what they preach when they take up a new calling.

For the Reverends Rachel Simper and Ian Watts are not only getting married, they are going to become the priests of neighbouring parishes in the same town.

The couple will become Priests-in-Charge of St James' CE Church, Briercliffe and St Cuthbert's CE Church, Burnley.

But it could have been so different for the husband and wife to be if they had not received a helping hand from friends.

Rachel, 36, currently the Vicar of St Luke's, Slyne with Hest, near Lancaster, met 40-year-old Ian who is the Priest-in-Charge of St Mary's in Newton-in-Mottram, Hyde, just after Easter last year through friends in the church.

Rachel, who was parish deacon and later curate at St Mary's, Clitheroe, between 1992 and 1995, said if it was not for friends they would not have met.

She said: "Being in separate dioceses, Blackburn and Chester, I guess we would never have met through work."

Ian added: "We met through mutual friends in Preston and we decided we would meet again.

"We found we have interests in common so we continued to meet and I proposed to Rachel in her vicarage last November.

"It is a good job we have the friends otherwise we may not have met."

The couple will be married in October by the Bishop of Lancaster at Rachel's church. The couple are hoping they will be in their new parishes by the end of November.

Ian said the pair were excited about their new roles.

He said: "The parish of St Cuthbert is similar to the area I am working in at the moment and I feel there are things I have being doing in Hyde. I hope I can continue in Burnley.

"Both churches seem very friendly and welcoming and we want to continue that."

Rachel said the pair wanted their own parishes and said she was looking forward to the challenge.

"The two parishes already work quite close together so we have the best of both worlds really."

The Bishop of Blackburn, the Right Reverend Nicholas Reade said: "This is an exciting time for Rachel and Ian and also for the two parishes in Burnley.

"I look forward to supporting them in their new posts."