A former Christian Aid staff member from Dorset will be the speaker at an annual service.

Rob Pearce will be speaking at the annual Christian Aid Week ecumenical service in Dorchester.

Rob worked for Christian Aid for 32 years, including a stint as regional director in the South West, before leaving the organisation in 2010.

Since then, Rob has been a regular and in-demand speaker across the county. The service will be led by the vicar, the Rev Jimmy Holden, in the presence of the mayor of Dorchester, Cllr Alistair Chisholm.

The service will take place on Sunday, May 12 at St Mary’s Church on Edward Road in Dorchester.

This year’s theme is around helping people that are pushed to the brink of poverty, so that they find the strength and opportunity to push back harder and fulfil their hopes and ambitions.

A street collection will also be taking place down South Street in Dorchester on Friday, May 17 between 9.30am to 4.30pm as well as the return if some house-to-house collections.

Tony Boyden, chair of the Dorchester and District Christian Aid, said the week was the perfect opportunity for people to reflect on how they can contribute to reducing global inequality. Part Christian Aid’s focus this year is on the East African country of Burundi, where more than 70 per cent of the population live in poverty, with the Covid pandemic effecting the economy badly.

He said: “We all know that Britain has been through a pretty tough time in recent years with rising levels of economic and social deprivation. But our Christian Aid partners in Africa, for example, are facing challenges we can scarcely begin to guess at: communities living in impossibly overcrowded conditions, with no safe water for washing or drinking; communities where you can’t rely on consistent public health provision of any kind.”