HUNDREDS of people are expected to watch the Rt Rev John Ford, Bishop of Plymouth, baptise and confirm more than 30 parishioners from Tavistock and surrounding area this Sunday.

If the weather is fine, the bishop will baptise candidates in the River Tavy, as the Bishop of Exeter did last year, while crowds line St John's Walk, Abbey Walk and Abbey Bridge. The bishop will then proceed to the churchyard to confirm the faith of a group ranging in age from eleven to 82. Music will be provided by the Stannary Brass Band.

The service on Sunday morning will be the climax to a weekend that the bishop is spending in the area. On Saturday, the bishop will attend a men's breakfast in Yelverton, and Walkhampton market, before opening Horrabridge summer fair at noon. In the evening, he will be getting out and about with local clergy — the 'Men (and Women) in Black' — to meet pub-goers in the centre of Tavistock.

The Rev Michael Brierley, priest-in-charge at Tavistock, said: 'The people who are celebrating their faith form a remarkable range, from a deeply questioning family man, to a life-long member of the community, to someone who's seriously ill, to teenagers and the parents of young infants — faith is such an important dimension in their lives that they wish to mark it in this way.'

All are welcome to the service, which will begin in St Eustachius' churchyard in the centre of Tavistock at 10am, or inside the church if wet.