Suffragan Bishop of Taunton: Ruth Worsley
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
First published: 30 June 2015The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Ruth Worsley to the Suffragan See of Taunton in the diocese of Bath and Wells.
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Ruth Worsley, Archdeacon of Wiltshire in the diocese of Salisbury, to the Suffragan See of Taunton in the diocese of Bath and Wells in succession to the Right Reverend Peter Maurice MA on his resignation on 30 April 2015.
Notes for editors
The Venerable Ruth Worsley was educated at the University of Manchester and trained for the ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham. She served her title at Basford with Hyson Green, in the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham and was ordained priest in 1997. She continued as curate of Hyson Green with Forest Fields and became Priest in Charge there in 2001.
From 2006 to 2008 she served as Area Dean in North Nottingham before becoming half-time Area Dean of Nottingham South and half-time Priest in Charge of Sneinton St Christopher with St Philip in 2008. From 2007 to 2010 she also served as Dean of Women’s Ministry and Honorary Canon of Southwell Minster.
In 2010 she became Parish Development Officer in the diocese of Southwark, before taking up her current role as Archdeacon of Wiltshire in the diocese of Salisbury in 2013. She has been Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen since 2009.
Mrs Worsley is married to Howard, Vice-Principal of Trinity College, Bristol. They have three adult sons, Nathanael, Jonathan and Ben and a very new daughter-in-law, Danielle. Ruth’s interests include walking and sailing (though she doesn’t like getting wet!), reading novels, playing the saxophone badly and singing, a little better.
Bath & Wells diocesan website Archdeacon Ruth Worsley announced as next Bishop of Taunton
Salisbury diocesan website Wilts Archdeacon to be New Bishop of Taunton
Excellent news.
Ruth will be a wonderful bishop and the Diocese of Bath and Wells will be blessed by God through her mission and ministry.
BTW, the Diocese of Salisbury is the first diocese to provide two female bishops in the Church of England: Sarah Mullally to Crediton (Exeter) and now Ruth Worsley to Taunton (Bath and Wells).
Go west young bishops.
Loads of female appointments coming in thick and fast, very interesting to see.
Hopefully +Kensington, +Islington and +Edmonton will be announced soon. The laity and clergy in the Diocese of London don’t seem to be able to cope with the suspense and secrecy too well.
Another moderate Evangelical..married and a safe pair of hands on ssm. Doctor Welby and co don’t mind upsetting ecumenical and conservative friends here.
When, at long last, will they appoint a string player instead of a wind player!
Doesn’t the saxophone conventionally belong to the Brass section of the orchestra rather than to the wind section?
This appointment means fifty women have now been elected as bishops in the Anglican Communion, in twenty-seven years since that very first appointment. Laus Deo.
Er – no Fr David. The sax has a reed…
Not an episcopal appointment but Revd Liz Adekunle has been appointed as Archdeacon of Hackney. The London team is forming interesting… The other announcements will be interesting
Graham, indeed the sax does have a reed but when Googling the saxophone I discovered that “conventionally” that particular brassy instrument in indeed regarded as belonging to the Brass Section of the orchestra. The reed is a small wee thing and the majority of the saxophone is made of? Well you tell me? Anyway, Wind, Brass or String – isn’t it about time there was an appointment of a woman bishop from the Percussion section of the orchestra? So far we have had five female episcopal appointments and still not a June, a Vivienne, a Jane nor a Lucy among… Read more »
“and a safe pair of hands on ssm”
Not entirely sure how “safe” she is from an establishment point of view. As a partnered gay priest she was always an excellent colleague for me; I reckon she might be ‘on a journey’.
Father David, take my word for it, in addition to being a professional musician, I worked for the Cincinnati Pops for a while. No orchestra ever has more saxophones playing for it than Cincinnati (check out the recordings on Telarc). It’s a reed instrument that often is seated with the clarinets (in pit bands, players often “double” on both sets of instruments). When you hear the saxophone in The Old Castle of Pictures at an Exhibition, or Ravel’s Bolero, or Gershwin’s anything (American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, etc.) they inevitably sit in the wind section and work on their… Read more »
Sounds to me as though the saxophone is neither one thing nor another but is a bit of a hybrid with its brassy body and its reedy mouthpiece. From my surfing the net I came across this quotation as to whether the sax is brass or woodwind. “There is a lot of debate over this, as the saxophone has the body of a brass instrument yet the mouthpiece of a woodwind. However, they are conventionally placed in the brass section, as most feel this is the one it most resembles. It is also worth noting that very few orchestras have… Read more »
I wonder if she’ll be ordained with the other southern suffragan for whom Welby has yet to set a date — Maidstone.
Thank you Cynthia for the wonderful and very valid picture of the Church being like an orchestra with many instruments playing individual tunes but together making great music, sometimes modern and harmonious , sometimes modern and discordant and always music created by God’s creation.
And let’s not forget that the great, great Ornette Coleman, who died a few days ago aged 85, actually played a plastic saxophone – and he had one of the most beautiful tones in modern jazz, certainly at slow tempi.
That’s the trouble with Anglicans. They’re just obsessed with questions about sax.
I want a “like” button for Simon Kershaw’s comment!
If the saxophone poses problems (which it doesn’t), what about the flute? Anyway, Father David, check out (for example) Vaughan Williams’ ‘Job’ and Sixth and Ninth symphonies to see what the saxophone can ‘add’ to orchestral sonorities. ‘Job’ is a work you might especially like.
John, yes, I already possess a CD of R V-W’s Job – A Masque for Dancing. The saxophone is indeed a very seductive instrument. From fallible memory did he use it as the instrument to accompany that part of the dance when Satan appeared? As for his Nine symphonies (same number that Beethoven wrote) was it Benjamin Britten who said he played them all every year to remind himself of how much he disliked them? I can’t recall Britten including the saxophone in any of his compositions, although I am ready to be corrected if anyone knows otherwise. Hitting teacups… Read more »
Thanks for informative reply, Father David. Didn’t know that about Britten – snobbery un- surprising.
Yesterday I was stuck in traffic on the M25 so I put on a R V W CD on the car radio. It started with Sancta civitas, this wearisome half hour piece of music did nothing to raise my spirits but was followed by his Five Mystical Songs. When I got to “Let all the world in every corner sing” amazingly the traffic started to flow freely and the previous longueur dissipated. A lot of Vaughan Williams music is fairly tedious but then there are occasional flashes of genius. But when it comes to music that is spiritually uplifting give… Read more »
For the record, text books on orchestration always list the saxophones in the woodwind section. But I have certainly enjoyed the banter about RVW and BB, as well as Simon Kershaw’s most witty comment!
Maybe it is because it is such a hybrid instrument that the saxophone very rarely features in properly orthodox orchestras.