A Workington vicar is stepping down from his role to take on a new job overseeing the training of new clergy and lay church workers.

The Rev Canon Professor Robert Hannaford will leave St John’s Church next week to take up a full-time role as interim director of Cumbria Christian Learning, which helps train new clergy and lay workers in the Church of England.

Prof Hannaford, 65, had been helping out in the role on a part-time basis alongside his full-time work in the parish.

But, with doing both roles not a long-term option, he has taken the difficult decision to say farewell to his parishioners and move into the training role full time.

The post will see him head up the organisation within the county which helps people discern whether they should become ordained ministers or serve in lay roles within the Church of England, and assists them to train for those positions.

It is a natural progression for a man who has spent much of his ministry working in education roles. His position as priest-in-charge at St John’s, which he took up in October 2015, was his first full-time post within a church.

Prof Hannaford said: “I think it’s an opportunity to bring a long career’s experiences of teaching, administration of teaching and leading in academic roles to bear in a church context and help the church better deliver something that’s very dear and important to me.

“I have truly loved working here. It was not an easy decision. I have really enjoyed working with people and church leaders from other churches and I have valued the links that have been built up in that respect.

“I have also really enjoyed the fact that here on the west coast a lot of families still bring their children for baptism and it’s been great to have that contact with young families and young adults.”

Prof Hannaford, who was ordained in 1981, lives with his wife Catherine, three of their four sons, and their daughter-in-law. In time the family plan to move closer to Penrith, which will be the base for his new job.

His last services at St John’s will be thus Sunday, January 27, and he will start his new role on February 1.

The process will then begin to seek a new priest-in-charge for St John’s. In the meantime, assistant priest Malcolm Stilwell will be the point of contact for the church.