THE Rev Canon Andrew Hawken will be responsible for an area twice the size of Wales when he steps down as vicar of St Helen’s Church, in Benson.

The vicar is leaving his south Oxfordshire congregation after 17 years to take on a new role in France in August.

As chaplain to the English-speaking Church of Midi-Pyrenees and Aude, Canon Hawken will look after Anglicans living in the region.

The father-of-two said leaving Benson would be a wrench.

He said: “We have had a wonderful 17 years here and met so many different people who have shared the journey.

“It will be sad to leave Benson, but it is a really good opportunity for my wife Sylvia and I to take on a new challenge.

“My children, Nathan, 24, and Mary, 21, are both studying and we now have the freedom to go off on our own.

“There is certainly life in the old dog yet.”

Canon Hawken took up the role in Benson in 1993 after previously working in Witney and Exeter.

St Helen’s Church is famous for having two number 11s on its clockface, and was used in propaganda threats by Lord Haw Haw during the Second World War.

Canon Hawken said he is relishing the challenges ahead of him.

He said: “This is a large region of South-west France close to the Spanish border on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on another.

“The area is twice the size of Wales so that will give you an indication of how much travelling around I shall be doing.

“The job itself will be to care for Anglicans who make up the chaplaincy and those beyond who, for one reason or another, find themselves in France and in need of pastoral care.”

Canon Hawken will cover four different worship centres, and said each one has a “thriving congregation”.

The main urban centre in the region is Toulouse, home of the Airbus A380 and the European Satellite Project.

He said: “I do feel that God has challenged me to look further afield and has led me into this new post.

“It certainly builds on so much of the experience I have gained in my ministry here, in Witney and before that in Exeter.

“It has been a real privilege to serve as Benson’s parish priest and I hope people will continue to support me as I make the necessary preparations for the next stage of my faith journey.”

The congregation will say goodbye to Canon Hawken with a farewell eucharist on July 25 at 10am.