A CLERGYMAN is quitting his suburban parish for life on the continent.

The Reverend Dr Robert Innes, his wife, Helen, and their four children are moving from Durham City to Brussels to start a new life in the Belgian capital.

Dr Innes is leaving the parish of St Mary Magdalene, in Belmont, on the outskirts of Durham, to take up the post as senior chaplain and chancellor in charge of the Church of England's pro-cathedral.

Dr Innes, who has been at the church for six years, said he and his family were looking forward to the new, very different life they were about to lead.

"We've made an awful lot of friends in the Durham area and we'll miss them, but I'm looking forward to coming back every so often," he said.

Farewells have been said in recent weeks at the church and at local schools in Belmont.

Dr Innes set off this week with eldest daughter, Ruth, 16, plus the family's pet cat, Sweep, and guinea-pig, Tufty.

They will set up home in the post's official residence, 11 miles south of Brussels, in the village of Waterloo, scene of the famous battle of 1815 in which Napoleon met his downfall.

Mrs Innes, daughters Rebecca, 14, and eight-year-old Philippa, and son, James, 11, will follow shortly