IT WAS standing room only at the back of St Mary’s Church in Bransgore as clergy and community leaders, parishioners and friends gathered for the Rev Dr Benjamin Sargent’s licensing ceremony.

The ceremony is rich in tradition, but was full of laughter and joy and set the tone for a new chapter in the life of the benefice, which also includes All Saints Church at Thorney Hill and St Michael and All Angels at Hinton Admiral.

Ben, who is just 30 years old and has five children, came to the New Forest on holiday a few years ago and fell in love with the area.

“We camped at Holmsley and had such a happy time. The opportunity to come back and serve God and his people here is really exciting,” he said.

Keen cyclist Ben, his wife Kelly and children Jacob, who is eight, Jonah, six, Eloise, four, Ezra, two and Persephone, who was born on Christmas Day last year, have moved from Emsworth near Chichester.

Some 50 friends travelled the 50 miles from that parish to support Ben at his licensing.

“It was a great evening and I am humbled that so many people came to celebrate with us,” Ben added.

“I became a Christian at 17 when I heard the message of Jesus explained clearly for the first time.

“At that moment Jesus moved out of the pages of a fairytale book into the pages of real history. I couldn’t dismiss him in the way I had done before.”

He studied theology at university, became a youth worker in a deprived area of south London and went on to become a university chaplain at King’s College. It was while he was there that he was selected for ordination.

Churchwarden at St Mary’s in Bransgore, Bob Gee, said: “We are hugely privileged to have such an incredible young man as Ben as our new vicar. He is everything we have prayed for and we are all so excited to see what the future now brings.”