A Royal Navy Chaplain has returned from sea to take up the helm as the new vicar of the parishes of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor.

Father Matt Godfrey will be licensed by the Bishop of Exeter at the Parish Church of St Eustachius on Wednesday, September 21, at 7pm.

He is no stranger to the area. During the 13 years he served in the Navy, he and his family lived in Crapstone.

His wife, Jo, a veterinary nurse, has worked for two local practices and currently runs the charity StreetVet in Plymouth. Their daughter attends Tavistock College and their son will hopefully start at St Rumon’s next year.

As he prepares to start his ministry here he said: ‘I turned up at the interview for the post with a surfboard under my arm. I used it to illustrate the point that, as a Christian minister, one of the important things is to look and ‘see what God is up to and get on board, much like catching a wave’.

‘With the current worry about the rising cost of living for people following so quickly on the heels of the pandemic, Fr Matt feels that ‘the Christian message of hope’ is as much needed now as ever. He said: ‘The Church is, first and foremost, an expression of God’s love for the world. So, in each generation, and place, we have to find new and relevant ways of sharing that and making it real.’

Fr Matt, who comes to Tavistock fresh from leading a multi-denominational team at HMS Raleigh’s basic training establishment, stresses the importance of building relationships with other churches in the area.

He is looking forward to working with members of TACT (Tavistock Area Churches Together). ‘One of the joys of military chaplaincy,’ he noted, ‘is that you’re part of an organisation where your colleagues come from a whole range of Christian churches. Our shared faith in Jesus Christ and shared love for God’s people is far stronger than our differences.’

Born in London, Fr Matt grew up in a clergy family, initially in a Nottinghamshire mining town and later in Uruguay, where his family were called as missionaries.

Returning from South America, he read theology at Durham University, before spending a year as a lecturing in a theological college back in Montevideo in Uruguay. Back in the UK, he did an MA in Philosophy of Religion at King’s College, London. After that he worked in retail for a number of years before feeling called to the priesthood.

He trained at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, outside Oxford, and was ordained in 2004, in the Diocese of Truro. He went on to serve for five years in the Bodmin Team Ministry before being called to a sea-going ministry.

Fr Matt said: ‘We couldn’t have wished for a warmer welcome. So many people have been kind and generous since we arrived in Tavistock.’ He added, ‘I loved my time in the Royal Navy but equally always felt that I would return to parish ministry one day.

‘Over the years we have tried to remain open to whatever God has in store for us and, when this post came up, it just felt like the right time. I’m very much looking forward to getting started and readjusting to leading worship on dry land rather than in drill-sheds or on flight-decks or other, more random, compartments on warships!