The vicar of a church which has been without a clergyman for three years is preparing to double up as Bradford's first secondary school chaplain.

The Rev Stuart Hacking will be licensed as vicar of St Margaret's Church, Frizinghall, tomorrow and, in September, he will take a pioneering step by becoming part-time chaplain at Immanuel Community College, Thackley.

His dual role could be the first of many similar appointments in the Bradford diocese as it finds solutions to cope with reduced numbers of paid clergy.

The 40-year-old was previously vicar at St James's, Thornton, Bradford, and admits his new roles could prove to be daunting.

"I don't really know what to expect - I'm in a state of nervous excitement at the moment," he said.

"I know there are part-time priests in Bradford and part-time school chaplains in the country, but I'm the first one in the city to do both or to be attached to a secondary school. The term is for five years and then it will be reassessed. Even if the workload shoots up during that time, I'll have to cope by myself."

His role at the college, which is part Church of England and part community, will be to lead the religious services and act as a pastoral link for staff and students of all faiths.He will also give input into assemblies, and act as a link between the college and churches in the area.

The £8 million site is due to open in September and will have 1,500 pupils, a drama studio, information technology suites, science laboratories and specialist teaching rooms.

Bradford diocesan secretary Malcolm Halliday said the Church of England nationally was having to rethink staffing strategies.

"About 30 years ago there was a bulge in the number of vicars going through training college, but now most of those are on the point of retiring and we have had to come up with ways to cope with the natural drop in levels," he said.

"Strategies were put in place in the Bradford diocese for part-time, paid clergy where it was felt this was possible.

"Rev Hacking is one of these. In his case, it was probably down to the size of the parish that it was decided he didn't need to spend all his time there.

"The only chance of people from St Margaret's having a full-time vicar would have been to merge it with a larger church and they would have lost their own services."

e-mail: kanchan.dutt@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.