A university chaplain has become the Methodist Church's first transgender minister after hiding her true identity for more than four decades.

Joy Everingham, 46, spent years secretly applying lipstick and wearing women's clothes before finally coming out three years ago.

She first announced that she planned to transition while training to become a minister, before becoming ordained last summer.

It is the first time a transgender person has been appointed as a minister in the church with the church's knowledge.

The mother-of-two from Canterbury, Kent, says she first knew she was different aged just five, and 'didn't fit in with everyone else'.

She said: "I wasn't like the boys, I was always more like the girls.

"My dad used to joke 'I've got three kids, one of each', so I was obviously different - I couldn't hide it.

"I went through my teenage years trying to be as boyish as possible. It always felt really disjointed, so I hid.

"If I'd admitted how I really felt at secondary school I think I would have been beaten with sticks.

"I'd put make-up on, put my mum's shoes on. It was liberating, but at the same time I felt dirty, and I felt wrong.