Jersey is hauling itself into the 21st Century with the appointment of its first female rector; Reverend Gerry Baudains was officially appointed head of St Martin's Parish Church at a special service last night.

She was presented to the Dean of Jersey by the island's Lieutenant Governor General Sir John McColl in front of a full congregation.

The Reverend has been a priest at the church for more than a year.

For decades the Church of England has allowed women to become deacons and even priests.

Reverend Baudains replaces Lawrence Turner who retired from the role, and said her priorities would be helping young children.

She said: "If I had any priorities it really would be working with young children, working with families, hopefully in the not too distant future, having some sort of toddler service, probably mid-week or something like that. That's something we'd really like to do to tie in with school finishing times etc.

"We do quite a lot of work with the school, both in small classes and in whole school assemblies in church."