Canon Lawrence Pizzey retires this weekend.

"It is the longest time I've served anywhere, 12 years, but at no stage has the time dragged. It has been a joy," said Mr Pizzey.

His final week at St Gregory's is turning out to be one full of mixed emotions.

He has led a thanksgiving service for the late Gilly Harris, popular organist at the church who died recently.

But he will enjoy a happier time on Saturday when he opens the church fete.

"I feel very humble about opening the fete," said Mr Pizzey. "Last year our own Kath Grimwood opened it, aged 105, and I think to myself 'how dare I be opening it when really she's the local celebrity'."

His fondness for the church which has been his "office" for over a decade is obvious. A tongue-in-cheek reminder of the new smoking ban is stuck to the heavy wooden entrance door: "Thou shalt not smoke in this church", it reads.

He gazes up with admiration to the chancel ceiling, with its gold stars and bright blue background, and explains how every piece of furniture in the church, with the exception of the font, is moveable and this has allowed, in days gone by, a children's club to be run with all sorts of activities going on.

"Try to envisage it with no pews, only a stone bench around the edge. That's what it used to be like. The stone bench on the wall was for the sick and elderly and that's where the term gone to the wall came from," said Mr Pizzey.

As rector, he has seen the extremes of human emotion – the joy at a wedding and the grief of a funeral.

"I have to deal with the emotions with a professional attitude. If I let my feelings become dominant it wouldn't help.

"People look to the church in dark times and they realise the church is here for them, here for everyone in the parish.

"Everyone in the parish is entitled to marry here and have their funeral here.

"It's not a club for those who chose to be members. It is for everyone."
Mr Pizzey and wife Ann are moving to Bury St Edmunds where they hope to get an allotment.

He also hopes to enjoy more of his bell-ringing hobby, as a member of the Suffolk Guild of Ringers.

Mrs Pizzey will continue as a governor at Sudbury Upper School but Mr Pizzey will leave his governorships at St Gregory Primary School and Tudor School in Sudbury.

"One of the great privileges over the years has been having the great responsibility of helping appoint head teachers at the schools," he said.

Summing up his feelings for the town which has been home for 12 years, he said: "Sudbury has so much going for it, both with its history and the people here now."

* The St Gregory's Church fete opens at 2pm at Croft House, the home of Lord Phillips, on the Croft.