MINEHEAD welcomed its new vicar last weekend in a formal licensing service at the town's St Michael's Church.

The Rev Penny Dobbin has taken up the post after serving as part of a five-strong team of clergy in the Torridge Estuary Benefice in neighbouring Devon.

The benefice covers Bideford, Landcross, Littleham, Monkleigh and Weare Gifford, where Ms Dobbin was based.

The institution for her new post was made by the Bishop of Taunton, the Rt Rev Peter Maurice, who was assisted by the Archdeacon of Taunton, the Venerable John Reed at a service also attended by many parishioners and local clergy.

Ms Dobbin's appointment comes more than a year after Minehead's former vicar, the Rev Simon Lloyd, was banned from office for four years after admitting that he had an improper relationship with a married woman from a neighbouring parish.