A popular priest is moving on after five years serving the Catholic community on an Oxford estate.

Fr David Hartley, who is the priest in charge of Sacred Heart Church, in Blackbird Leys, is leaving the parish to take up a new position near Stoke-on-Trent.

The 50-year-old, from Littlemore, joined the Balfour Road church in March 2005.

During his time on the estate, the former nurse helped raise thousands of pounds to build a new meeting room at the church.

He served as a governor at St Gregory the Great School in Cricket Road, Oxford, St John Fisher Primary School in Littlemore, and Our Lady’s Primary School in Cowley.

He was also vice chairman of a local gardening club and a director of the Leys News newspaper.

Fr David believed his parishioners had grown in faith during his stay in Blackbird Leys, but added the high point was organising a celebration marking 40 years of the Sacred Heart parish in 2006.

He said: “That was a particularly good moment when people on the estate started looking forward.

“I had been there a year by then and I had got to know a few people and we created a history booklet on the history of the parish and there were lots of other celebrations.

“I’ve very much enjoyed my time here.

“People really seem to have found a good way to live together as a community.

“The church has grown, and people have come to the faith or taken bigger steps forward in their faith.

“It is about giving people belief in themselves that they, as a parish, can achieve a lot.”

Fr David, a father-of-four, studied theology at Edinburgh and trained as a nurse, working in London and the John Radcliffe Hospital.

He initially trained in the Church of England at St Stephen’s House, East Oxford, before serving in the Black Country and Staffordshire.

He was received into the Catholic Church in 1995 and ordained in 1998, working as a chaplain at the John Radcliffe Hospital until 2005, when he was offered the post in Blackbird Leys. He then helped set up groups for people from the Philippines and East Timor.

Rev Roger Burne, of the CofE Church of the Holy Family in Blackbird Leys Road, said Fr David had been very supportive of the co-operation between churches on the estate. He said: “He is very warm and kind, and very good pastorally.

“He has a gift for being there in a gentle and supportive way.”

No decision has yet been made on Fr David’s replacement.