AN Elland vicar is returning to home turf when he takes up a new post next month.
Canon Martin Wood, team rector of Elland, is taking up a new post in the diocese of Chelmsford, Essex.
He will be living in Basildon, a few miles away from where he was brought up, in Brentwood.
Mr Wood, 54, will become parish developments adviser in the Bradwell Episcopal area.
He gave his last service at All Saints, Elland, on Sunday evening.
Mr Wood, who has worked in the parish for the last 14 years, said he would find it very difficult to leave.
He said: "It has been very fulfilling and I have made a lot of good friends. It is hard to leave."
Born in Ipswich and a lifelong Ipswich Town supporter, Mr Wood was ordained at Chelmsford Cathedral in 1975.
His wife Phyll is a licensed reader and works as a midwife sonographer.
She will take up a new post as a midwifery sister at Southend Hospital. The couple have two sons and a daughter.
