A HUSBAND and wife who are Darlington's longest serving church ministers are to retire.

Pastor Ken Evans and his wife, Marjorie, have served for 27 years at the Assembly of God Pentecostal Church, overseeing its move from North Lodge Terrace to Corporation Road in 1981.

Mr Evans became a pastor in 1965, after working for the War Office as a mechanical and electrical engineer, taking charge of a church at Llantrisant, South Wales. He went on to start up a church in Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, before settling in Darlington.

He has been very involved with the town's gipsy population and held a school for their preachers until they formed their own church at St Hilda's.

His assistant, David Gibson, will take over from May 1 and will be officially ordained as pastor at the church on Saturday, May 4.

Mr Evans' retirement meeting is on April 20, when the guest speaker will be John Mosey.

Mr Mosey, whose daughter, Helga, was killed in the Lockerbie air disaster, took the original Lockerbie memorial service and the tenth anniversary service, both held at Westminster Abbey.

Mr Evans is staying on as an elder at the church, but intends to devote more time to travelling and giving lectures.