A POPULAR Vicar has announced he is to quit his parish to follow his wife's work.

Rev David Usher has been at the Nazareth Unitarian Chapel, Knight Hill, Padiham, for the past three years.

Rev Usher, who is Australian, and his wife, Chasey, are packing their bags for a new life in Kent.

Chasey, whom he met in Oxford while at university, has set up a business in Kent arranging tours for people from America.

He said it is a big step, but he is used to travelling as he lived in Australia before travelling around Europe and then going to America for 12 months, before finally landing in Oxford to study.

It was when he completed his studies in Oxford that he decided to become a minister.

He began his career in Atherton, Greater Manchester, and then moved to Hampstead, before taking the ministers role in Padiham.

Rev Usher will leave the chapel in August and will take up the role of minister at Bessels Unitarian Congregation, The Old Meeting House, in Sevenoaks, Kent.

He said: "We are reluctantly leaving the area, but with Chasey's work, even in this day and age of computers and distance working, she needs to be accessible to the London office to make this new venture work.

"It is a good reminder that the only way to learn to fly is first to jump, which is something that I will be telling myself while I am in Kent.

"I have enjoyed my time in Padiham and feel regretful that I am leaving so soon. But needs must and I am looking forward to the new challenge."

Rev usher will become the Minister of the Old Meeting House on the basis of a half-time position and is currently exploring different avenues of how to spend his spare time.

He added: "It will take a while for us to get settled in, so I will concentrate on that. But I am currently exploring other possibilities for me to take up."