THE next Suffragan Bishop of Basingstoke in the diocese of Winchester is to be the Ven. Kelly Betteridge, the present Archdeacon of Bodmin, in Truro diocese, Downing Street announced on Thursday.

She succeeds the Rt Revd David Williams, who was translated to Truro earlier this year (News, 13 December 2024).

Originally from Wiltshire, Archdeacon Betteridge, 56, is the daughter of a farm foreman, and “grew up with a strong connection to the countryside”, she says.

She graduated from Roehampton Institute in 1992 with a BA in education and theology before becoming an All-Age Adviser for the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS), delivering training, creating resources, and shaping policy relating to children’s ministry.

She trained for ordination at at Queen’s College, Birmingham, completing an MA in contextual theology in 2010. She was ordained deacon the same year and priested at Coventry Cathedral in 2011.

Archdeacon Betteridge served her title at St Nicolas’s, Nuneaton, in Coventry diocese, and, in 2014, was appointed of Vicar of St Nicolas’s, Nuneaton, and Priest-in-Charge of St James’s, Weddington, and Caldecote. She was appointed Archdeacon of Bodmin in 2021.

Archdeacon Betteridge described the announcement on Thursday as “an amazing privilege”. She said: “Whenever anyone has offered to pray for me in this new role I have asked for wisdom, kindness and courage. I’d like these qualities to be hallmarks of this new phase of ministry for me.”

She will become the first female bishop of Basingstoke when she is consecrated in Southwark Cathedral on 15 October. She will be formally welcomed at a service at St Mary’s, Andover, on Saturday 15 November.

Archdeacon Betteridge enjoys reading, baking, live music and theatre, and walking. She is married to Simon, who is the National Director of Linking Lives and head of community development for Compassionate Communities UK. She has two stepchildren. “With their partners, our granddaughter, parents, siblings, and cats, we have our own growing community of blessedness,” she said.

The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, said that she combined “a warm pastoral heart” with strong experience in parish ministry and diocesan leadership. “She has a deep passion for growing a church for all ages, and her ministry has been very much appreciated by the clergy of her current Archdeaconry,” he said.