THE new full-time Methodist minister for the Tavistock area was welcomed at a special service last Sunday, August 31.
The Rev Pam Stranks has joined the Tavistock Methodist Circuit, which covers churches in an area bounded by Bere Alston, Sydenham Damerel, Mary Tavy, Zoar, Princetown and Yelverton.
Mrs Stranks was ordained in July 2007 and has been part-time ministry in Chippenham, Wiltshire. She had previously been a Methodist lay worker, but said full-time ministry had always been on her mind.
She said: 'I felt a real call and a sense of peace and it seemed the right time to do it.'
Mrs Stranks said she was 'really looking forward to getting to know people, the community and the villages in the area'.
Tavistock Methodist Church was packed for the service, with members of congregations of other denominations in the area joining those from the various Methodist chapels.
The chairman and deputy chairman of the Plymouth and Exeter Methodist District, the Rev John Carne and the Rev Mike Parsons, welcomed Mrs Stranks, and were joined by the senior minister of the circuit, the Rev Jeff Moles, representatives of all the Methodist chapels, the rural dean, the Rev Geoff Lloyd, and Sue Pesterfield, the secretary of Tavistock Area Christians Together.