A NEW minister has taken charge at Colwell Baptist Church.

Dave Burton, 41, has moved to the West Wight after 11 years at Castlehold Baptist Church in Newport.

Dave is married to Lisa, has two sons Noah, 13, and Seth, 11 and a daughter Eden, three.

He said: "I moved to the Island nearly 20 years ago and helped to set up the Isle of Wight Youth for Christ project.

"The organisation does a lot of work in schools alongside churches enabling them to connect with young people.

"I spent seven years as a youth and children's worker at Castlehold and I then studied for three years to become an accredited Baptist minister."

Dave, who lives in Freshwater, replaces Stephen Plummer who returned to the mainland with his wife Carole to help look after aging family members.

He added: "After Stephen left, I was in conversation over several months with Deacons at Castlehold about being called as a new minister to Colwell.

"I have now had an induction service where I was formally welcomed to Colwell and I'm really looking forward to my time here.

"I would love to encourage and enable members of the Church to be able to offer a love of Jesus in the community of Colwell."