FROM West Indies sunshine to West Devon drizzle is a big climatic change for the Rev David Price Webber. But when it comes to people he finds their joys and griefs much the same the world over.

Mr Webber and his wife, Jane, arrived in Bridestowe in early November to serve the joint parishes of Bridestowe and Sourton. He was formally inducted at Sourton's St Thomas A Becket Church last Wednesday.

'We came down here and liked it and the people seemed to like us,' said Mr Webber, 59, who will be here for five years — 'Unless I get chucked out by the congregation!'

Before getting involved with the church Mr Webber was in the Civil Service for 25 years in London and spent part of his time working for the Secretariat in Hong Kong.

He left the Civil Service in 1982 to run a sub-post office in West Sussex until 1986.

During that time he says he came to Christ. 'I had rejected the Church for many years. But when I turned to it, it was unexpected and eventually a joyous thing.'

Among the things he became involved in was the West Sussex Aids Centre at Brighton and he worked with a self-help team. 'It was an interesting experience working with a particular part of society, learning its needs,' he said.

Mr Webber entered Chichester Theological College in 1991 and was 'deaconed' that year and 'priested' the following year. For a while he worked with the YMCA in Brighton which was used as a hostel for the homeless.

Then came work with the young physically handicapped with West Sussex County Council. 'It was a very demanding area and I was very priviliged to be doing that work,' he said.

It was felt he was well placed to continue working in the field he had specialised in and so his arch deacon moved him to Hove St Patrick's, a church that had opened its doors to the homeless.

The Bahamas connection came through a friend with whom he had been in theological college.

'I was phoned and told they had a problem ministering in the Turks and Caicos Islands where a lot of priests were teachers and on holiday. So I was asked to go for six weeks. I did that and two years later I was asked to share the ministry,' he said.

Mr Webber spent three years in the Bahamas before leaving for Bridestowe. 'The Bishop wished me to stay and so did the people but there were going to be radical changes and you know when it is time to move on and for someone else to take over.'

But despite the picture postcard images Mr Webber stresses life in the tropics is not idyllic.

'Bahamas may sound like paradise but in many ways it is paradise lost because of social changes and the breakdown of the community. The families break down and the churches break down.'

He is keen to identify the demands and problems of his new rural parishes.

'There are pecularities here which are particular to this area and also those which are common to the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Bahamas. I just haven't got the sunshine anymore — but I can move around faster.'