THE new priest in charge of Rockwell Green and neighbouring parishes, the Rev Andy Barton, will be taking part in this year’s Remembrance Sunday service in Wellington Park for the first time.

Mr Barton, who is also responsible for the parishes of Ashbrittle, Bathealton, Kittisford, Sampford Arundel, Stawley, and Thorne St Margaret, is a former regular Army chaplain.

He took up his new role only in September, and will be speaking during the service of Remembrance and wreath laying ceremony on Sunday afternoon, November 10.

Mr Barton is continuing his work as a chaplain in the Army Reserves, while his main focus will now become the seven parishes for which he is the priest in charge.

Along with the Church of St Peter, in Greenham, they form the West Tone Benefice, a title given to groups of churches which work together.

Mr Barton said since his earliest days as a Christian he had an interest in people who were not connected to the Church but who would like to be.

From his first church in Devon and while working as a chaplain initially in a hospital and later in a hospice during the Covid pandemic, and more recently in the Army, his belief has been to go out and meet people where they are and not simply expect people to come to church.

He said: “I am as human as the next person, on the same journey as everybody else, no more important, no more holy, no closer to God than you are.

“Together we are all gaining greater insight, healing, and wholeness every day.

“My hope is that we can find relevant, helpful, and enjoyable ways to do this together.”

Mr Barton’s recent licensing service held in All Saints’ Church, Rockwell Green, was led by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Right Rev Michael Beasley, when he was reminded that the role of a parish priest was to be a ‘servant and steward’ who seeks to ‘feed and provide for all of God’s family, to guide them through the world’s confusions’.

While serving the seven parishes in the West Tone Benefice, Mr Barton will also care for the soldiers and officers of the 6th Regiment Army Air Corps, which is based in East Anglia.

Army chaplains, or padres, as they are known, deliver pastoral care, spiritual support, and moral guidance to all in the Armed Forces, irrespective of faith, world philosophy, or status.

As a deployable force they go where their soldiers go, both on exercise and on operations.

Mr Barton has had a home locally since 2021 with his wife Sioned and their two dogs Meg and Lily, while their grown-up children Tom and Hannah have ‘flown the nest’.

He is keen to hear from anybody connected to his parishes and can be followed on Instagram and Facebook at @padrebarton or contacted by email at [email protected].

Alternatively, he can be approached after the service in Wellington Park, which starts at 3.15 pm.