The Reverend Dave Chesney will be the new vicar of Ascension Church in Custom House

Mr Chesney will be licensed by the Bishop of Barking, the Right Reverend David Hawkins, and installed by the Archdeacon of West Ham, the Venerable Elwin Cockett at 7.30pm on May 22.

Mr Chesney said: “I am very much looking forward to my licensing and to getting to know the parish I will be serving.

“Having grown up and lived in east London most of my life, and working for amny years just a few miles from the church, it feels like I am coming home.

“That said, I am all too aware that time does not stand still and am conscious of the need for the unchanging message of the Gospel to be communicated afresh in all its forms, to an ever changing environment.”

Mr Chesney takes over from his late predecessor, The Reverend Chris Hanson, a few days after the 110th anniversary of building of the Baxter Road church and 125 years since the establishment of the Parish of Ascension.

Churchwarden Alistair MacDonald said: “We are all looking forward to his new ministry among us here and hope that his wife, Sarah, and children, Lauren and Jessica, will quickly settle into this parish and soon get to know this part of London.”