TAVISTOCK will shortly have a new vicar following this week?s announcement by the Bishop of Exeter that Preb John Rawlings, the town?s present vicar, is to become the new Archdeacon of Totnes. Mr Rawlings, 58, came to Tavistock in 1992 following his retirement from the Royal Navy. He was made a prebendary of Exeter Cathedral in 1999. Mr Rawlings said: ?The last 14 years in the parishes of Tavistock and Gulworthy have been very full and rewarding and I have been allowed to work in not only very lovely places but with wonderful people. ?It is a great privilege to have been asked to become Archdeacon of Totnes and I am looking forward enormously to this new area of work and ministry.? Mr Rawlings said he had been ?incredibly fortunate? in his fulfilling ministry as a priest, and had worked in some exciting and demanding places. ?The time in the Royal Navy was a tremendous privilege and taught me a lot about myself, about God and about humanity.? Mr Rawlings said he and his wife, Janette, who has worked so hard with him in many aspects of parish life, would ?greatly miss? Tavistock and Gulworthy and the kindness and friendship of so many people in the two communities. ?We are going to see out the year here ? I really couldn?t go before Christmas, I must be here with the people of Tavistock, but we shall move sometime during the beginning of January. ?It?s going to be very sad to go. It?s a great honour to be asked to do this job but to leave Tavistock and all those wonderful people after 14 years is going to be very hard for both of us.? Mr Rawlings trained for ordination at St Augustine?s College in Canterbury and began his ministry in Rainham, Kent. In 1976, he became a chaplain in the Royal Navy and served on land and sea, including postings at Devonport, Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth and the Royal Navy Hospital at Stonehouse in Plymouth. He is due to take up his new post in February 2006 ? his future title will be The Venerable John Rawlings, Archdeacon of Totnes. He will be responsible for 120 churches and 75 clergy in the Archdeaconry of Totnes, which stretches from Hatherleigh to the South Hams and Torbay. Mr Rawlings and his wife will live in Bovey Tracey. Tony Wilds, Archdeacon of Plymouth, said there would be a period of reflection before the church actively started recruiting for a new vicar of Tavistock. ?There is the curate at Tavistock, Joanna Abecassis, and one or two retired clergy, as well as a very strong team of lay people, so it?s a parish that will not flounder without a vicar for a short while,? said the Archdeacon.
