ANDREW Woodward's week-days are spent suited and booted as a corporate banker - but on Sunday he puts on a dog collar to be a Church of England priest.

Mr Woodward's nine-to-five job is as senior commercial relationship manager with Lloyds TSB in Basingstoke, a team he joined this summer after previously being with the bank in Guildford.

And after helping with business planning and finance on weekdays, at the weekend he switches to writing a sermon.

For three Sundays of each month, the 44-year-old takes the Eucharist in his role as honorary assistant priest at St Botolphs in London and, once a month, is expected to preach the sermon.

His church is on the edge of the City and, because of its location, he describes it as bringing "wealth and deprivation" together - partly because of the many homeless people within its diocese.

Mr Woodward joined the bank after taking A-levels and has clocked up 26 years. It was only in 1996 that he decided to take evening, weekend and summer courses to become ordained after having been brought up in the Anglican church and singing in the choir.

How does he combine his two roles?

"I don't see it as two roles in life.

I see the gospel as realising potential," said Mr Woodward.

"I use the same ethics for business and religious life. If I felt the tension between the two was too great, then I couldn't do what I do with integrity."

He added: "From the church's point of view, I believe it is helpful to have a voice from the workplace, an attempt to give a voice to the often voiceless to show that God can be discovered in the most unlikely places, and in the daily encounter with another."

His view of the Church is quite simple - "It is not a cosy club, it is for everyone". And on religion, he says: "It's not pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die stuff, it's about being alive."

Mr Woodward served as an assistant curate in Weybridge for four years before going to St Botolphs, and is a member of the Lloyds TSB Church Service Committee.

Last year, he was the preacher at the annual church service for the Company of Management Consultants.

As a corporate banker, he works with businesses with turnovers between £2million and £25million that are looking for commercial borrowing of between £500,000 and £2million.

Although based in Black Horse House, in Jacobs Yard, Basingstoke, Mr Woodward's customers are across the Hampshire and Surrey borders, including the Blackwater Valley.

He said: "I like seeing my clients achieve their maximum potential and feeling I've had some part to play in their success or have acted as a sounding board."

Having now spent three months in Basingstoke, he is forming a view about the town and its community.

He said: "I think Basingstoke is a place that has extreme potential. It's a close-knit business community and there's a chance to have personal contact with the other professionals in the town."

He added: "I feel the area is well set for a prosperous future and I am surprised by the number of people who commute to Basingstoke. My perception is that the economy is strong."

And he, himself, is one of those commuters, as he lives in Woking with his wife Stephanie and sons Matthew, seven, and Alexander, 10.

Focusing on business issues, he doesn't expect interest rates to hit a peak of more than five-and-a-quarter per cent next spring, which he said is unlikely to dent business confidence.

And having spoken to Gazette Business about his double life, he joked: "This might all come as a surprise to my customers!"