New Season for St Helen’s Church, Northwich

It’s a time of year synonymous with change, a new school term, signs in nature of summer changing to autumn and for Rev Ruth Gray, the start of a new season as Vicar of St Helen’s, Northwich.

Ordained as a deacon in 2023 and priested in 2024, Ruth has spent the past three years as Curate at St Thomas’, Stockton Heath, near Warrington.

Ruth was inducted and installed as the new Vicar of St Helen’s on 1 September, in a service led by Julie Conalty, Bishop of Birkenhead. The church was filled with members of the congregation, along with Ruth’s friends and family, as they gathered to mark the beginning of her ministry in the parish.

Since then, it has been a busy time. There has been the move into the vicarage, new furniture to buy, the local area to explore and, of course, the important task of getting to know the community.

Ruth has already begun joining in with local events, including the Northwich Pina Colada Festival. The relatively new fixture in the town centre calendar celebrates the fact that the author of the famous ‘Pina Colada Song’, Rupert Holmes, was born in Northwich in 1947.

Just two days after her induction, Ruth visited the church on her own, unaccompanied, for the first time. Would she remember where the light switches were? Which coat hanger could she use? Would everything go smoothly?

In Ruth’s case, this was one of those ‘first time’ moments that she is likely to remember for some time, although not entirely for the reasons she had hoped.

There was a minor setback when it came to opening the church door, setting the intruder alarms off as police sirens were heard approaching along the main road. Yet Ruth took it all in her stride, remaining calm under the circumstances.

It’s a skill she attributes to her years working in a school, where, as she puts it, “You have to be prepared for anything.”

And so, with the doors eventually open and a new chapter beginning, Ruth is settling into life at St Helen’s, ready to discover what the next chapter of her calling will bring.