WHEN the Rev Ruth Bushyager heard she had been appointed the new Bishop of Horsham, she was understandably ecstatic.

Then came coronavirus. Then on the first day of lockdown, she broke her foot while out running.

To top it off, Ruth was told her grand ordination and consecration ceremony due to be held at Westminster Abbey in front of 3,000 people would have to be cancelled because of the social distancing rules.

It’s just as well then that Ruth, who grew up in Southend, has such a positive outlook on life - one that has seen her rise from increasingly interested churchgoer to training to become a vicar herself and now being made a Church of England bishop.

“I was disappointed of course about the ordination at Westminster Abbey,” said Ruth. “But that’s the way it is at the moment.

“The day I found out it was cancelled, earlier that morning I’d had to tell a bride that her wedding was going to be cancelled and that we would have to bring it forward and hold it with just a couple of people there.

“I was expecting her to be so upset but she said to me ‘I don’t want a wedding I want a marriage’. That’s the way I felt when it was told about the ceremony.

It’s the marriage that is important to me - in this case the job!”

Ruth has been vicar of St Paul’s Church in Dorking, Surrey, for the past six years.

This summer, Ruth will move into the Bishop of Horsham’s house where she and her husband and their two daughters, aged ten and 13, will set up home.

Ruth will oversee a large patch of some 500 churches in her diocese.

At just 43, Ruth will be the youngest bishop currently ordained in the Church of England.

It will be difficult to say goodbye to the family of friends and church-members she has built up at St Paul’s.

“After six years, I’m having to say goodbye to a lot of wonderful people.

“For some of them I’ve buried their parents and baptised their children.

“We’ve had suicide, child loss and some terrible things happen to people in our community.

“It’s not going to be easy to leave but on the other hand I’m looking forward to a new adventure,” said Ruth.

Does being a vicar and a mother make Ruth more relatable? “I hope so,” she said.

“When you are the vicar in a community you are always the vicar.

“People look to you for guidance and you are always on duty.

And I love that.

“But sometimes when you are at the school gate in your t-shirt and shorts you just want to be the mum. But that’s the thing with this job - you might be out of uniform but you are never off duty.

“The job is never done. You can never go home and climb into bed and think ‘I’ve done all I possibly can today’. I’m lucky, I have an incredibly supportive husband, family and friends.”

Ruth became interested in Christianity at St Augustine’s Church in Thorpe Bay at the age of 12 along with her brothers and mum - former county councillor Kay Twitchen OBE.

There she met the then curate, Father Richard Thompson. “I was just blown away by these amazing people like Father Richard who were investing all this time and energy into improving the lives of children.” she said.

“I also met some great friends and we just had the most wonderful time together.”

After studying at Southend High School for Girls, Ruth went to Bristol University to study economics and geography, where she gained a first class honours degree. While she was at Bristol she attended a very vibrant church and was encouraged by the vicar (who is now himself a bishop) to explore her faith further.

Ruth wanted to be ordained in the church but on the advice of her family she decided to take a job in the civil service.

She got a job working in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, then John Prescott.

“I had a ‘real job’, I paid my taxes, did everything that I thought I should and it was a great experience – but I still knew I had to become a vicar,” she said. Ruth was accepted for Wycliffe Hall in Oxford where she took a degree in Theology.

So what does she love most about her job?

“I love sharing Jesus with people, I love preaching and teaching the bible and I love that I get to see people grow in confidence.”

Ruth still loves to come home when she can. When she has time to herself she’s happy walking her dog Maisie and is also a keen runner – hence the accident at the start of lockdown.

“I’ve been hobbling around all this time,” she says. So what about TV?

“I’m not really a big TV watcher but I’ve really gotten into Seinfeld lately. It’s brilliant.”