THE new rector of the Marlborough team ministry, the Rev Andrew Studdert-Kennedy, was licensed by the Bishop of Salisbury on Saturday, 50 years to the day that his father was ordained a priest.
Mr Studdert-Kennedy's father, Christopher, who retired ten years ago as vicar of Godstone, Kent, was among the congregation that filled St Mary's Church.
The new rector, his wife, Annie, and their children, Jamie, Phoebe, Megan and Alice, have already moved into the rectory so their children could start school.
The rector was selected from 23 hopefuls and comes from an illustrious line of churchmen.
The congregation numbered more than 300 and included 60 of the rector's parishioners from Norbury, London.
Mr Studdert-Kennedy, 42, was a pupil at Marlborough College in the 1970s and has hardly been back since.
He said: "Little did I imagine that I would one day return to Marlborough as team rector. As you would expect, much has changed in the intervening years."
The Marlborough team ministry includes St Mary's Church, Marlborough; St George's, Preshute and St John the Baptist, Mildenhall.
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