IT'S official — the vicar of Hatherleigh Alex Welby can preach the hind legs off a donkey!

The reverend had a captive audience of the two-legged and four-legged variety as he preached for more than four hours in Hatherleigh Market to raise money to restore the grave of town hero Thomas Roberts.

Locals and visitors alike paid Mr Welby per minute to carry on speaking or shut up — and with a ratio of 5:1 to keep going he had to draw on all his resources.

With the wonderful response to his preach-a-thon, the vicar has raised the £450 he needed. The experience has made him want to interact with the community on a regular basis after the 'warmth and humour' he found in the people.

'There was something wonderful about preaching on the street amongst the people and I would like to find that again,' he said.

'I was fascinated that so many people were positive about preaching.'

Mr Welby took several requests including one from a Roman Catholic who asked him to preach on unity and one man asked him to explain the Parables of the Talents because he had never understood it in the past.

One man even donated £5 for the vicar to shout out 'Hallelujah' at the end of each minute.

'The Roman Catholic lady said I was the nearest thing to Salvation Army she'd ever seen in the Church of England which I thought was great,' he said.

The vicar said several people seemed to find parts of his sermon relevant especially when he talked about Christian marriage.

'So many people say vicars go on too long but they really voted with their feet,' he said.

'There was quite a lot of activity in the market and at one point I was preaching to a wagonload of cattle.'

The money will pay to restore Thomas Roberts' grave who was an old schoolmaster in Hatherleigh and an inspiration to many people.

Mr Roberts was a powder boy in the American War of Independence when an exploding grenade caused him to lose both hands.

The vicar said despite his disability he contributed greatly to society and led a normal life.

Hatherleigh's memorial to this man is 'The Thomas Roberts Trail' which takes in his schools and his grave.