SUNDAY’S church services will be tinged with sadness as the congregation bids a fond farewell to the Rector of Hexham.

Having served in the role since 2015, Canon Dagmar Winter will give her final two services at Hexham Abbey this weekend before heading off to pastures new to serve as Bishop of Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire.

Ahead of the move, Dagmar was consecrated into the role of Bishop at a service in St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday.

She has been a popular figurehead at the helm of Hexham Abbey, growing the church community and the business side of the Abbey.

Dagmar came to Hexham from Bromley in 1999 and worked under rector Michael Nelson, and his replacement Graham Usher. In 2006, Dagmar left to work in Kirkwhelpington for 10 years.

She was asked by the Bishop of Newcastle to become the new rector of Hexham in 2015 after Graham Usher answered the call to become Bishop of Dudley.

Dagmar said: “It’s been a very steep learning curve since my return in 2015. The Abbey is a wholly different place; it’s buzzing and there is so much going on, and it’s a big organisation comprising the business which offers hospitality, as the monks did of old, and raising money for our ministry and mission, as well as the church.

“It’s a lovely community to be part of and the Abbey sees itself as a parish church which is there for everybody, through our educational and cultural events as well as our worship.

“I have loved my time at Hexham Abbey and it’s been very much an effort of us working together as we couldn’t do what we do without all the volunteers, the staff team and the supportive congregation.

“I think Northumberland gets under your skin when you have lived here for 20 years, and I absolutely love Hexham, so it’s not going to be easy at all to leave.”

Dagmar’s final services in Hexham Abbey will take place at 8.30am and 10am on Sunday with opportunities to say goodbye following the services.