FAREWELL prayers were said on Easter Day to the vicar of Alcombe, the Rev Prebendary Stephen Stuckes, who is taking up a new role in Switzerland.
Preb Stuckes has served the Church in West Somerset for 21 years, first as curate in the Dunster benefice and then as vicar of Alcombe at St Michael’s Church and rural dean of Exmoor.
But now he has been appointed chaplain of St Ursula’s Church in Berne in Switzerland.
“I have enjoyed every moment of my ministry in West Somerset,” he said this week.
“I could not have been better supported by the remarkable Christian community here.
“Berne is a new challenge - a multi-national congregation serving the English speaking community in Switzerland’s federal capital.
“Though the context will be quite different, the pastoral need of a community is the same the world over.”
The West Somerset Food Cupboard, based at St Michael’s, was an initiative of the Church in Preb Stuckes’ time at Alcombe.
He begins his new job at the beginning of May.