Vicar heading for pastures new after seven years in town

Rev Matthew Knox has been appointed to be the Chaplain of St Paul’s School and St Paul’s School for Girls in London, two of the leading schools in the country.

He has been Priest-in-Charge of the Church of England in the three parishes in Berwick, south of the river, for the last seven-and-a-half years.

In this time, he has been involved much in the community, has enabled the churches to be more outward-looking and has developed teams to enable the life of the churches to flourish.

Churchwarden Barbara Donaldson said: “The churches have come such a long way since Matthew started. We have come together, grown in number (especially with young families and children), and have developed our buildings to be welcoming and fit for worship in the 21st century. Matthew and family will be a really big miss.”

Rev Knox said: “It is going to be hard to leave this amazing place. We weren’t expecting to go to London – and the job, the house and the surroundings are different in every way. We leave great people and the churches are in a healthy state to continue growing, serving and sharing.”

The leaving service will be on August 26 in St John’s, Spittal, starting with crafts for kids at 3pm, baptisms in the sea at 3.30pm, followed by the rest of the service, and food at 4.30pm. All are welcome.