A former Rolling Stones road worker has been ordained as a deacon in Suffolk, decades after touring with the band.

Jonathan Boast, 52, was once a “lugger” helping to set up stages for the rock group during their 1990s European tours, after first being introduced to the work by a friend while living in Germany.

He later built a career in art and photography, but said a sense of calling to the Church of England grew over time, eventually leading him to pursue ordination.

“I was living in Germany after my degree, exhibiting and had a studio,” Boast, who is from Bury St Edmunds, told BBC Radio Suffolk's Sarah Lilley of his early 20s.

“One of my friends said, 'There's some work helping out, carrying stuff, you're quite big — you can carry stuff',”

“I said 'yes, of course that sounds like fun', and you went around Germany as they were doing different gigs.

“Then when they went into a different country you picked up another tour and did that.”

Boast said the work was physically demanding and often exhausting, recalling how he once fell asleep during a Stones concert.

“I was by no means a roadie, I was a lugger... it was great, it was really tiring work,” Boast continued.

“I do remember falling asleep during a Stones' concert underneath the sound desk so that shows how tiring it was and what hours we worked.”

Boast was ordained at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, alongside more than 20 others, in what he described as a “blessing”.

He said his calling to the Church had been a “slow burn”, adding: “For me it was a growing niggle that became a persistent poke and then a solid shove, and eventually I couldn't argue with Him anymore.”

“I accepted that this is what He had written for me.”

He will now serve as a deacon in the Lark Valley and North Bury team.