THE search for the new vicar of Malmesbury Abbey is about to begin.

The Rev David Littlefair is to retire in June after nine years in the town.

He said: "The pressures on the parish priest are greater than they were, particularly administration work. Some of the battles I have had to face with bureaucracy need the energies of a young person."

Mr Littlefair said he had enjoyed his time in Malmesbury and it was a difficult decision to leave.

"I will leave with regrets," he said. "I couldn't walk down the High Street without meeting people I knew and I have made some very good friends. "

Mr Littlefair was ordained at 41 after studying theology at Trinity College in Bristol.

"It took a serious illness of my first wife Christine in about 1972 to change me as to what I believed in terms of my faith. She had what I believe was a miraculous recovery."

Christine died in 1999 after losing her battle with cancer and Mr Littlefair said the people of Malmesbury were very loving through a difficult time."

He will be moving to Exeter with his second wife Joy. He said it would be difficult for her to leave.

"Joy has lived in Malmesbury for 25 years. It is going to be a hard wrench for her. She is an assistant teacher at the primary school here and in the village of Lea."

There is likely to be an interregnum of several months until a new vicar is appointed.