The Rev William Currie Hewitt, Minister of Westburn Church of Scotland in Greenock, has been selected as the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Mr Hewitt, 57, was born in Kilmarnock and ordained at Castlehill Church in Ayr in 1977. In 1978, Mr Hewitt was called to Elderslie Kirk, then a new union of Elderslie East and Elderslie West, where he served for 16 years.

During his years at Elderslie, Mr Hewitt served in the wider community as chaplain to the local school, part time chaplain to Elderslie Hospital for children with severe mental and physical disability, Merchiston Hospital and part-time chaplain to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

He also has experience with youthwork, having acted as regional chaplain to the Girls' Brigade and served on the Youth Education Committee of the church of Scotland, which gave him the opportunity to run the youth ventures group and organise activities for 12 to 15-year-olds.

In 1994, Mr Hewitt was called to St Luke's, a large church in the centre of Greenock. He continues to serve as local primary school and Greenock Academy chaplain, James Watt College chaplain and part time chaplain to Inverclyde Royal Infirmary and to Ardgowan Hospice and previously as part time chaplain to Inverclyde Royal Hospital..

In 2000, the five churches in the west end of Greenock agreed to work together towards union, prompting the merger in 2006 of St Luke's and their immediate neighbours, St George's North, to form Westburn Church of Scotland.

Wider church work has included moderator of Greenock Presbytery and first moderator of Greenock and Paisley Presbytery. Mr Hewitt is currently the vice convener of Presbytery Business Committee and convener of Discipline.

IHe has previously been on the Church of Scotland Board of Practice and Procedure where he served for eight years, becoming Convener of the General Assembly Arrangements Committee and Convener of the Business Committee of the General Assembly. Mr Hewitt has also been a member of the Assembly Council and of the Support and Services Committee.

In addition to his posts within the Church, he is also an active member of the Board of Studies for the Institute of Counselling based in Glasgow.

Mr Hewitt and his wife, Moira, have a daughter and two sons. In his leisure time, Mr Hewitt enjoys golf, is Past President of Johnstone Rotary Club, a member and Past President of Greenock Burns Club and a frequent speaker at Burns events which included a trip to Canada to propose the Immortal Memory. Mr Hewitt is currently Précis of the Innerkip Society - a charitable organisation dating back to 1798.