Retired head teacher Terry Axe was among those ordained as a priest by the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Revd Tim Thornton at Truro Cathedral in July 2015.

Terry, from Constantine, was the head teacher of Budock School until it closed in 1990 and later St Francis School in Falmouth. He will serve in the parishes of Constantine and Mawnan.

Terry said: “I’ve always had a sense of vocation which was focused into my teaching and working in schools, so in many ways this has been a natural progression.”

As a teacher, Terry had been the youngest head teacher in the country at one point and later oversaw the successful merging of three primary schools in Falmouth into St Francis School where he remained as head teacher until retirement.

“It was always a case of did I go into teaching or the church but a door opened for me into teaching and I took it. I loved being part of Budock School and then St Francis. Bishop Michael once suggested that I was like a priest without a collar, which I suppose I was. St Francis was a bit like a parish in many ways.

“After I retired I spent time talking with Bishop Michael, Bishop Tim, the Archdeacon and initially my parish priests Revd David Stevens and latterly Revd Stewart, all of whom were very supportive. This confirmed my belief that I might be of some use in Constantine, and so I went forward for ordination.”