RETIRED Bishop Brian Castle is recruiting volunteers to help keep his local parish church on Exmoor open for visitors.

Mr Castle has a rota of 14 villagers in Wootton Courtenay who lock and unlock All Saints’ Church in the mornings and afternoons to keep it open seven days a week.

Now, he is preparing to renew the rota and, given that many people have moved to the village since the last one, he is hoping to add to the number of helpers.

Mr Castle, who retired as Bishop of Tonbridge in 2015, said: “It means the church is available for anybody who wishes to visit it or spend some time of quiet in it.

“As well as villagers who use the church, the visitors’ book tells us that people from around the world drop in and spend some time in our churchyard and beautiful village church.

“Some of the comments in the book are very moving and the number of visitors, especially in the summer, is more than we would expect in our fairly remote part of Exmoor.”

Mr Castle said volunteers who held the church key had responsibility for locking and unlocking it for two weeks, every six months.

He said it was the simplest of tasks and was ‘all very relaxed’.

Mr Castle said: “Even holding the magnificent church key, which is probably well over 100 years old, connects us with the history of our community.

“If you cannot manage some days over your two weeks on the rota, there is always somebody who can cover that time.

“We are currently wonderfully supported for this duty, but if you would like to join, you would be very welcome.”

Anybody interested in helping with the locking and unlocking duties should email Mr Castle at [email protected] or call 01643 841062.