A PRIEST who served parishioners in Leigh has been promoted to the top job in the British Army.

Father Stephen Alker is to be the army's next Principal Roman Catholic Chaplain and Vicar General.

He was told of his appointment after returning from Iraq, where he spent Christmas and the New Year.The 52-year-old currently serves with Headquarters 1 Armoured Division based at Herford, North West Germany, which is deployed in Iraq.

Father Alker will start his new job in the army in March.

He said: "My duties will include ecclesiastical oversight for 28 Catholic chaplains under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Forces."

Father Alker, a priest of the Archdiocese of Liverpool, was ordained at St Jude's, Wigan, in 1978.

He has served as an assistant priest in St Joseph's, Leigh, and at The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool.

In 1981, Father Alker became a Territorial Army Chaplain to 208 General Hospital Regiment of the Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers) based on Merseyside. He joined the Regular Army as a full-time chaplain two years later.

He has served in Germany, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Australia as well as the UK.

He was awarded the MBE in 1997 and became the first Roman Catholic Assistant Chaplain General in the single structured Royal Army Chaplains' Department.