A REVVING Reverend is set to speed into action this weekend as he helps his son take part in the National Hovercraft championship.

The Rev Granville Spedding and his son Jonathon have been busy refining their hovercraft in time for the final round of the competition being held at Tatton Park in Cheshire.

Jonathon will race across land usually grazed by deer and sheep in what organisers say will be an exciting climax to the season.

Hovercraft fans are coming from far and wide to compete in the fast motor sport.

And Rev Spedding -- whose name is often misspelt as Speeding -- is hoping for family success in what will be his 30th year in the sport.

There could even be a spot of divine intervention as the 64-year-old former assistant minister at Christ Church, Pennington, has the slogan "And the spirit of the Lord hovered over the face of the water" on the back of his self-built craft.

He said: "I'm looking forward to it. It's one of those rather different hobbies but it's one you can really get hooked on."

Son Jonathon, 32, from Blackrod but now living in Essex, is a national champion and his daughter, Rebecca, is also a fan of the sport. Rev Spedding has taken a back seat in the past year because of an illness but he is information officer and vice-chairman of the Hovercraft Club of Great Britain.

Rev Spedding says the main danger is a hovercraft's tendency to flip over.

But it seems someone watched over Rev Spedding -- during his racing years of racing he received not a single injury.