A GLOBETROTTING Bishop is set to return to his Lancashire roots, with a new post at a church in Whittle-le-Woods.

The Rt Rev Alan Winstanley, who was born in Leigh but spent 11 years working in South America, will become vicar of St John the Evangelist and an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Blackburn Diocese, where he was ordained in 1972.

The 53-year-old father-of-two left a post as a curate in Blackburn in 1982 and went to South America, studying languages in Mexico, before moving to Peru.

He helped set up churches in Lima and also lived in Arequipa, a city of a million people 8,000 feet up in the Andes, where he was involved in pastoral work.

In 1988 he became Bishop of Peru and Bolivia, covering an area which was more than 1,500 miles in length, the same distance as between London and Moscow.

He returned to England in 1993 and is currently based in the Chester Diocese. He will return to Lancashire in September with his wife, Viv, a teacher.

His two children have left home.

Bishop Winstanley said: "We are quite excited about going back to Blackburn. It feels like going home and I'm very much looking forward to it.

"I'm not sure I enjoyed my time in South America. It was very worthwhile, but it was a difficult political situation and there was a lot of poverty.

"There was also a lot of terrorism while I was in Peru.

"Having a lot of experience in the church in other parts of the world, I hope I can give Blackburn different ways of doing things and looking at things. A fresh perspective is usually welcome."