WHEN the 30-year-old Reverend James Cocke arrived to take over at All Saints in Headington, he thought it might be a six-year stint.

Fifty-four years (and about 2,800 Sundays) later the 85-year-old has just become the longest-serving incumbent in the Church of England – and shows no sign of calling it a day.

“The church is a vocation, not a job, and as such time is not important,” he said.

Rev Cocke became the longest-serving Anglican vicar in the country after the retirement of the Rev Trevor Thorpe in Essex.

Rev Thorpe was instituted nine days before Rev Cocke, who 11 years ago eclipsed the total service put in by his five predecessors.

The father-of-four and grandfather-of-10 said: “If you’d said to me then that I would still be here aged 85, I would never have believed it.

“What I didn’t know back in 1957 was that this wasn’t simply a project that would last five or six years, but one which would last a lifetime. It has been an honour.”

Asked about retirement and Rev Cocke simply said: “I have no plans.”

Banbury-born Rev Cocke came to Headington from Christchurch in Dorset, aged 30 and with his wife Margaret and three of their children.

He had read modern history at Wadham College and found his calling to the ministry after starting to attend St Aldate’s Church.

He recalled: “Christchurch had several churches and a Priory, while All Saints was a suburban church, and my first impression of it was that there was an enormous amount of work to be done on the buildings.

“There have been four major building projects during my time at All Saints: refurbishing the church and bringing it up to 20th century standards, building a house for staff, demolishing and rebuilding the old church hall and modernising the vicarage.

“We built Church Garth, which now houses the director of music, Paul Burke, and three members of the choir, for £2,000 on a piece of land at 39A New High Street.”

Rev Cocke, whose wife died three years ago, added: “Of course the world has changed during my time here. When I arrived in 1957 there were no shops open on a Sunday, but society has become far more materialistic and the secularisation of Sunday has obviously had an effect on the size of the congregation.”

Bruce Gillingham, Cowley Area Dean, one of Rev Cocke’s many friends and supporters, said: “He is unique in the Church of England. He has been active in the community through his long-standing connection with the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital and also through the development of Community Care through the All Saints Pastoral Centre, which was refitted under his management.”