A former policeman from Dorset, David Bayley looks after the Wolds Valley churches. A keen agriculturalist, (he owns his own tractor and used to keep cattle) David's probably more involved with the farming community than the average vicar. "Any Vicar can tell you wonderful stories: I was in the supermarket wearing a dog collar, did a quick bit of shopping and before I knew what I was doing I was talking to the girl on the checkout, who was a mum. She desperately wanted her baby baptised but didn't know if the church would do it because she and her partner weren't married. "It's part of the excitement of being a priest; people will come up to you in all sorts of circumstances. You're a complete stranger yet they're quite happy to have a personal conversation. It may even be because you are a stranger. "Confidentiality is paramount all the time, but especially as a village vicar. People need to know. Which is perhaps one of the reasons why they don't come through my front door. Someone would say "cor, what's she seeing the vicar about?". So they may use the occasion when I'm having a pint in the pub, and there's lots of noise, and people can't hear. "If I'm dressed casually, nobody takes a blind bit of notice that someone's talking to me if they don't know I'm the vicar. It's availability and trust. People knowing what they say to me goes no further. "When I was offered the post here I said to them "If you want a conventional vicar, don't let the Archbishop of York offer me this job. If you're prepared to take a risk with an unconventional vicar then let him offer me the job". "I'm a real country person, and I think if you spoke to most people they'd say they're just as likely to find David in the Three Tuns, having a beer and a chat with everybody, we might see him driving a tractor, or a feed lorry, we might hear that he's in the kitchen at the Star on a Saturday night, he might be up at West Farm at Helperthorpe lambing in April if we want to find him.  | | David Bayley |
"They know that I'm about and I'm in the community and I think that's essential. It gives you, to use a modern phrase, some street cred. "Although Yorkshire's not my culture, I want to learn it and I love it. People up here are 'what you see is what you get'. Dorset's different. They're what I call 'blue rinsers' down there and it takes about six gin and tonics to get them to losen up and be what they really are. "Up here it's different, and I like that." | 
