A NEW minister is being welcomed into the Waveney Valley Ecumenical Partnership tomorrow.Rev David Gibson will be officially instituted during a special service at Harleston Methodist Church and is in charge of nine churches from Bungay down to Pulham Market.

A NEW minister is being welcomed into the Waveney Valley Ecumenical Partnership tomorrow.

Rev David Gibson will be officially instituted during a special service at Harleston Methodist Church and is in charge of nine churches from Bungay down to Pulham Market.

But although he has upped sticks to move to Bungay from Aberystwyth in Wales, Mr Gibson said he felt like the move was a return home to an area he lived in as a student.

Before entering the Methodist ministry in 1981, he worked for the post office and BT in Colchester as an electrical engineer.

Earlier in his student days he lived in Carlton Colville and earned holiday money in the old Co-op canning factory in Lowestoft.

Now, his wife's parents reside in Leiston and he is looking forward to immersing himself into Waveney life.

Mr Gibson is set to take responsibility over Emmanuel Church in Upper Olland Street in Bungay, a Methodist and United Reformed Church.

He will also provide ministry for Methodist churches, including Woodton, Ilketshall St Andrew, Fressingfield, Harleston, Rumburgh and Pullham Market, as well as United Reformed Churches in Denton, Wortwell and Harleston.

Soon a new United Reformed Church minister will be appointed to work with him.

He said: “I went to Sunday school when I was a child and then I didn't go again until I was at university. I joined the Methodist society and then I went onto have a job at BT in Colchester. I then became a lay preacher and felt a calling to the church.”

Mr Gibson trained at Wesley House in Cambridge, before taking up a post in south Wales. Most recently in Aberystwyth he was with English and Welsh language congregations and also carried out student chaplaincy work.

He said he was looking forward to getting aquatinted with all his congregations, adding that the aim of the partnership was to make better use of the resources available and to support each other.

“We wanted to be nearer the family, our children are on the east side of the country and we didn't want to do the huge journey living such a long way away.

“It's going to be the first time I've formally work ecumenically and I want to go along with the goals the partnership already has. I hope that the partnership becomes more developed and people become closer.”

Outside his working hours Mr Gibson plans to continue his long term interest in heritage railways and model railways.

His wife Sue has worked for the advice bureaux for many years and is a keen gardener. They have two children and two grandchildren.