THE new Vicar of Bolton will be swapping the classroom for the pulpit.

Canon Michael Williams is due to arrive in town in July.

And he is leaving behind 20 years of training people to become priests in favour of a return to pastoral work in the community.

Canon Williams is currently the principal of the Northern Ordination Course in Manchester, training priests and ministers of the future on behalf of the Church of England and the Methodist movement.

He said: "After 20 years of telling other people how to do it, I thought it was about time to practise what I preach!"

Canon Williams, aged 57, worked as a priest for eight years in the Toxteth area of Liverpool before moving to St John's College, Durham where he began to train others for the priesthood. During 20 years he has trained about 400 people to become clergy.

West Bromwich born Canon Williams, who is married with two children, will leave his home in Sale at the end of the academic year.

And he is relishing the prospect of working in Bolton.

He said: "What attracted me to the job was the fact that there is both congregational work in the Parish Church itself and a responsibility to the town centre and to the people of Bolton as a whole."

Canon Williams is due to conduct his first service in Bolton on July 20.

He replaces Canon Alan Wolstencroft who left Bolton last year to become the Archdeacon of Manchester.

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