One of the most historic churches in the country dating back to Anglo Saxon times, St Oswald’s Church, Winwick, will give a warm welcome to its newly appointed priest in charge, the Reverend Martin Cox, at the end of February.

Mr Cox will also be welcomed by parishioners as the new rector of both Newchurch parish church, Culcheth and Christ Church, Croft.

All three churches have been without a minister for several years - St Oswald’s Winwick, for nearly three years and Croft and Newchurch for five years.

Mr Cox’s appointment will be celebrated at a collation service at Newchurch on February 28 by Bishop John, the Bishop of Liverpool. Congregations from the three churches will be in attendance.

Mr Cox was born in North Staffordshire and worked for Staffordshire County Council as a social services manager before being ordained. He has been the team rector of three churches at Astley, Tyldesley and Mosley Common for the past eight years. He and his wife Heather, a school administrator, have two daughters, Amy and Natalie and six grandchildren. Mr Cox enjoys cooking and open water swimming and he and Heather are musical theatre and travel enthusiasts.

He said: “We are delighted to come to the three parishes and to our new home at the Newchurch rectory in Culcheth. We are very much looking forward to this fresh chapter in our lives. One of my main aims will be to make this a sustainable ministry and to be both approachable and available to all my parishioners. I hope to meet as many people as possible at the collation service in February.”

John Watkin, church warden at St Oswald’s Winwick, said: “We whole heartedly welcome Martin and Heather to our parish. We have not had a minister for nearly three years and during that time the Church Council and our congregation have faced many financial and operational challenges. The church building itself had to be closed for a lengthy period due to a huge reroofing project followed by a complete failure of the heating system. In the meanwhile we have been working closely together with Newchurch and Christ Church by having a rota of combined services at each of the parish churches in turn, and offering support to each other. With Rev Cox’s guidance and effort, we can now look forward to progressing from strength to strength.”

The collation service will be held at Newchurch, Church Lane, Culcheth, at 7pm on Wednesday, February 28.

Reverend Cox will preach his first sermon at St Oswald’s Church, Winwick on Sunday, March 3.