A Selby vicar and his wife have split up - blaming the break-up on mounting pressures of running a parish.

The Rev David Woollard and his wife, Audrey, said the stresses and strains of the parish ministry had finally taken their toll.

And the Archdeacon of York, the Ven Richard Seed, warned today that unless clergy learned to cope better with "life in the fast lane", more marriages would end up on the rocks.,

Mr Woollard, 61, Vicar of St James's, Selby, told the Evening Press today that neither he nor his wife had had an affair, but had separated because of "personal difficulties".

He said: "The rumour machine has already started, but this is not a naughty vicar story.

"The reason our marriage has broken up is the pressures of the parish ministry. It's all very sad, but the situation got unbearable."

He added: "You focus so much on the church and people in need, that you lose sight of yourself.

"Your marriage gets pushed into the backwater and suddenly it's falling apart. Clergy marriages aren't bullet-proof and break-ups are just as painful - it's like pulling off an arm."

Mr Woollard, a former financial adviser, was curate at Clifton Parish Church and St Luke's in York before moving to Selby in 1994. The couple have a son, Ben, aged 23, who works in Spain.

Mrs Woollard, a receptionist at Selby War Memorial Hospital, said the break-up was very sad after 32 years of marriage, but they intended to remain friends.

She plans to leave the vicarage this weekend to stay with her sister in Hampshire.

The vicar, who is living temporarily with an elderly church congregation member at Riccall, said he had no intention of resigning.

He said: "The congregation's support has been brilliant and I'll need it in the months ahead."

Mr Seed said there were a large number of happy and successful clergy marriages around, but there were also many under significant stress.

He said: "There are tremendous demands on clergy today and they and their families are making huge personal sacrifices.

"They have to deal not only with finances but some very intricate pastoral issues, as well as trying to run their church in an imaginative and Christian way when there is an awful lot of disinterest from people.

"We are all in the fast lane and there needs to be more training to make clergy more aware of the stresses and strains."

Updated: 15:55 Thursday, August 30, 2001