Parishioners in St Andrew’s, Chippenham and St Nicholas, Tytherton Lucas have welcomed a new vicar after a nine-month wait.

And last week the Draycot benefice north of Chippenham also licensed their new priest in charge, Alison Love, a former primary school teacher at Monkton Park until last July.

Two retired priests have been helping at St Andrew’s since Simon Tatton-Brown, who led the parish for 13 years, retired last Christmas.

Reverend Rod Key, who has just celebrated 30 years as a priest, was instituted on Monday.

He has moved from Norfolk, where he has looked after 10 village parishes for the last 10 years. Before that he spent two decades as an inner city priest in Gloucester.

Rev Key, 57, is married to Sue and they have three grown-up children and a 10-year-old Border Collie.

He said he was attracted to the parish: “Very much because of the sense of the church wanting to grow and try new things.

“The parish population has 15,000 and will be 20,000 in the next five years,” he said. “I am very open to new ideas and I like that the building is adaptable and has chairs instead of pews.

“It’s really a chance for me to get stuck in to the community, not just the church. I am keen to make it more relevant to the community. There are a huge number of housing estates that are part of our parish but not very close, like Monkton and Pewsham, so it’s a bit of a challenge.”

The Rev Alison Love is serving five churches in the Draycot Benefice – Kington Langley, Christian Malford, Sutton Benger, Seagry and Tytherton Kellaways.

She has been curate at St Peter’s for the last three years but is in her first job as priest in charge.

Rev Love, 51, is married to Peter and they have two grown-up daughters and two Border Terriers.

She moved to Chippenham in the 1980s and was a primary school teacher at Monkton Park for 25 years until this July.

She said: “I feel that God has blessed me with this opportunity and I know this is the right place for me to be.