17th February 2012

OTTERY ST MARY: Vicar ready for new challenge

The Reverend Franklin moves on after 15 years

By Paul Crompton

THE vicar of Ottery St Mary has said goodbye after 15 years service in the town.

The Reverend Simon Franklin, the team rector of Otter Vale Mission Community, completed his years of dedicated service to the town and the surrounding parishes with a joint service last Sunday (February 10th) at 9.30am.

The service was followed by coffee and cake and later a special service was held to mark the occasion at Ottery St Mary Church on February 12th.

The Reverend Franklin has moved to become the vicar of Moretonhampstead, on Dartmoor, with his wife Anne.

He has been replaced by Acting Team Rector The Reverend Mark Ward.

The Reverend Franklin said he felt it was the right time to move on after serving the town and the 12 surrounding parishes in the Otter Vale Mission Community.

He said: “We will miss so many people here who have become real friends and given so much to my wife and I.

“But I just feel ready for a new challenge and also I feel there’s a lot of good things going on in the church.

“It’s got to the stage where things are going well and church is going along well and it would probably be helped by having someone else come along with a new perspective.”

The 57-year-old has helped start a new congregation and complete a series of building work to the town’s church.

He said: “I’m glad to be part of that and also I’ve really enjoyed being part of a team across the villages and share the responsibility of that.

“It’s been fantastic working with a group of people who have become friends.”

He added that one of the most exciting and privileged things he did was to carry a tar barrel one year.

He said: “The town allowed me to carry one which was such a privilege because it’s usually young people who were born and bred here but they let the vicar do it which was fantastic.

“It was a great buzz, the adrenaline really runs when you do it.”

The Reverend Franklin, who has worked in churches for the past 32 years, is going to be a vicar of four churches in the Moretonhampstead area.

PICTURE: THE Reverend Franklin and his wife Anne finished their tenure at Ottery St Mary Church last Sunday