A POULTON vicar has landed a prestigious Church of England post by being named as the next Archdeacon of Lancaster.

The Rev Colin Williams, who has been vicar of St Chad's Church since 1994, will take up his new position around November. He will succeed the Venerable Robert Ladds, who is moving to the North East to become Bishop of Whitby.

Southport-born Colin, 46, will combine the new role with his responsibilities as a member of the General Synod and as rural areas officer for the Blackburn Diocese.

He said: "I feel very honoured to have been asked to take on this important and challenging position with the Church of England in Lancashire.

"I look forward to taking up the responsibility of being rural areas officer alongside my duties as Archdeacon. I have come to love our Lancashire countryside and know the Church has an important role to play in its life and work."

A former solicitor who read law at Oxford, Colin returned to the city to study theology when he decided to join the church and was ordained at Liverpool Cathedral in 1981.

He served in two parishes on Merseyside before moving to Lancashire in 1989 to become chaplain to the Bishop of Blackburn.

The Rt Rev Alan Chesters, Bishop of Blackburn, said: "I am very pleased that Colin will be able to continue his ministry in the diocese in this new and challenging role. His many and varied interests, and his considerable gifts and legal background, mean that he has much to offer in his joint role as Archdeacon and diocesan rural areas officer."

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