FOR the first time in his 26-year career as a village priest, the Rev Colin Fox, vicar and rural dean of Pewsey, has married a couple and then christened their child at the same service.

The service at St John the Baptist Church in Pewsey began like any other wedding with the congregation facing the altar where Graeme Dean and Hazel Burton were taking their vows.

Then the vicar asked the congregation to about turn and face the font at the back of the parish church for the christening of Mr and Mrs Dean's daughter, six-month-old Alice Rose.

The bridegroom is the only son of Albert Dean, of Prospect, Pewsey, and he now runs the family lawnmower sales and repairs business in the village.

The bride is the granddaughter of Tom and Rose Willison, of Swindon, and was given away by her grandfather. Her two sons, Wayne, 19, and Danny, 16, were ushers.

Matron of honour Judy Parry carried baby Alice Rose down the aisle and looked after her during the wedding service, which she slept through.

However, the baby woke up for the christening and proceeded, her mum said, to cry the place down.

"She certainly cried out the devil as the old saying goes," said Mrs Dean.