OKEHAMPTON’S parish priest has been given a special role at Exeter Cathedral in honour of his long-service to the diocese.

The Rev Stephen Cook, who is the rector at Okehampton’s All Saints Parish Church, was made a prebendary of the cathedral at a choral evensong on Tuesday last week (November 8).

He was chosen for the special role alongside two other serving clerics in the Diocese of Exeter, the Rev Joseph Dent of St Andrew’s Church in Plymouth and the Rev Samantha Stayte of the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Lynton on the north Devon coast.

Stephen said the letter from the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Robert Atwell, offering him the role came as quite a surprise. In it, the bishop thanked him for his 20 years’ service, saying ‘your commitment and support of the diocese has been exemplary’.

As well as being team rector of the Northmoor Team Ministry, Stephen has been a hospital chaplain and taken on other roles in the diocese. The honour comes with his own seat, the stall of [poet] Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the quire of the cathedral, as well as the right to preach in the cathedral.

Stephen said: ‘It was really nice and I was pleased and surprised. I thought it was going to be quite a small affair but it was a really big deal, three bishops and two archdeacons and the cathedral choir. As a prebendary you are entitiled to wear a red cassock rather than a black one and occasionally you get asked to preach at the cathedral and you are part of an advisory body at the cathedral. You are given your own stall, my stall is the stall of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In theory, it is your own seat, although I don’t think they actually prevent anyone else sitting in it!’

Stephen’s family and friends came along to the special service.Among them was his friend Doug Lander, who took the photographs of the priest in his robes sitting in his dedicated seat in the cathedral. He said: ‘This is a great endorsement of Stephen’s dedicated service to the church in Okehampton. I was honoured to be invited because I am not a regular member of the church, I just consider myself a friend of Steve’s.

‘You can’t imagine what a big deal it was. There were so many church officials, all in the regalia and robes and the giant cross before the altar and the bishops. It was a really great occasion. Because it was a choral evensong, the choir sang and they were absolutely magnificient, It was worth going for the music alone.’

The role of prebendary aims to strengthen the cathedral’s links with the wider community of Devon, and also, as part of the College of Canons, sees prebendaries involved in cathedral decisions.