GETTING dressed in the morning is set to be a shared experience for the new vicar of St Paul's Church in Marton .

Because when Christopher Wren reaches for his dog collar, wife Ann will be reaching for hers at the same time.

The pair, who are taking over ministry at the church, will work together as vicar and parish deacon making them the first married couple on the Fylde to perform such a task.

When it comes to performing traditional vicar's duties, such as giving sermons or taking christenings, weddings and funerals, Ann will be just as qualified for the job as Christopher.

In fact, the only thing she will not be able to do, according to a church spokesman is, "to perform the act of consecration in a communion service".

Whatever the official rules, Christopher and Ann, who have already worked together for many years at a church in Gateshead, seem relatively relaxed about their somewhat unique arrangement.

Christopher said: "Well what can I say, it's quite good fun working with your wife. I'm not worried about it at all.

"We have survived quite well working together for the past ten years, so I am looking forward to it.

"There are advantages in being a couple in that you can work well together as a team.

"People come to trust you as a couple. But you do have to have a clear separation between home and work."

Ann added: "We are quite excited about our new ministry in Blackpool. Becoming a deacon has felt like a very natural thing for me.

"There may be a few people shaking in their pews about it, but really we have very complementary interests and work well together.

"In fact, we often understand what the other one is going to do without even talking about it!

"We realise there are lots of social problems in Blackpool, particularly with drugs. That's the sort of outreach work we are hoping to develop.

"People can see women in the church as a problem, I like to see it as an opportunity."

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