A VICAR will be swapping the rolling hills of Cheddar for a life at sea when he becomes the chaplain of a cruise liner. Reverend Victor Daley, vicar of St Andrew's Church, has a taste for life at sea and has cruised the Nile, Mediterranean and Caribbean.

A VICAR will be swapping the rolling hills of Cheddar for a life at sea when he becomes the chaplain of a cruise liner.Reverend Victor Daley, vicar of St Andrew's Church, has a taste for life at sea and has cruised the Nile, Mediterranean and Caribbean. Following an informal chat with an on-board chaplain during one of his trips he has landed himself a post-retirement job working for Gloucester-based firm Travelscope.In a test run, Rev Daley will spend 30 days early next year looking after the pastoral needs of 850 crew and passengers on a liner touring the South American coast.He told his current congregation about his plans last month and said they were 'interested and amused'.Rev Daley said: "I've been on a number of cruises and noticed the ships always try to have a chaplain on board, somebody ecumenical who can cope with a number of faiths."Travelscope made me an offer and I have been given the Brazil trip to try out and for them to try me out."The cruises will really be a retirement job from time to time and a way of having a good holiday."Being a chaplain on board a cruise liner is a bit like being a vicar in your own parish in that you just have to be available to meet people's pastoral needs."More and more people cruising are in their 70s and have time to be interested in religion and sometimes come back to faith having neglected it for most of their working lives."The main thing Travelscope is interested in is that I don't push any one denomination. But that has been very much my approach for years anyway."I told people of my plans at the annual church meeting and they seemed quite interested and amused.