ABERGAVENNY is to lose one of its most influential and popular figures when the Reverend Jeremy Winston leaves at the end of August.

He has been vicar of Abergavenny for the past 18 years and the rural dean and during that time he has led many monumental changes which have benefited not only the church community but also the town as a tourist attraction.Ten years ago he was made a canon of St Woolos Cathedral so he can use three titles - Reverend, Father or Canon Jeremy.

At 6ft 7ins, he is the tallest vicar in the Church in Wales, but his imposing stature belies his ability to get down to the level of everyone he meets, so adults and children alike feel comfortable in his presence.

When he arrived in Abergavenny he was an eligible bachelor in his thirties, and he has never married, although he was once engaged to a girl who eventually married one of his friends, leaving behind a broken-hearted young man.

His father was a steel broker working for Richard, Thomas and Baldwin  (RTB) at their head office until he was offered another job in Cheshire when Jeremy was two.

The family moved in July 1956 and that very night his 35 year old father suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving his 33 year old mother  Vera to bring up Jeremy and his older brother Christopher alone.

Jeremy recalled, "I was actually in the room with him when he died and I suffered a reaction to that trauma when I was 35 and my best friend died on the same day as our neighbour. The effect of my father's death had obviously stayed in my sub conscious. My mother tried to make a life for us in Cheshire but in 1957 we all went to live with my grandparents in Griffithstown."

Later she ran a car hire business in partnership with her brother and sister. She could service a car as well as any man, a skill she taught her two boys.

Jeremy attended Croesyceiliog Grammar School and became head boy. "I loved school and still dream about it. They were the happiest days of my life."

He went on to gain a first class music degree at Trinity College, Carmarthen, a church college recommended by his headmaster.

Derek Childs, later to become the Bishop of Monmouth, was the principal and Jeremy became very close to the college chaplain Wyndham Evans and his wife.

It was during his time there that he felt more and more the need for him to enter fully into the life of the church. He said, "Our family was always involved with the church, my mother was well known in church and charitable bodies as a professional musician and she ran Sunday School with two friends at St Oswald's Church, Sebastopol where they had around 100 children attending each week.

"A lot of people thought I should be ordained but I didn't know what I wanted to do and besides my brother was more pious than me. During my time at Trinity College I became older and wiser and felt the need for ordination."

The turning point came during a vocations weekend in Birmingham with the charity Additional Curates Society which fosters vocations among young people and provides curates in poor parishes. Coincidentally Jeremy became chairman of the charity in 2002.

So when he graduated it was decision time – should he take up the very good job offered as head of music at a comprehensive school in Llandeilo or should he follow his calling? "I had to decide so I went to look at St Stephens House, Oxford and it was theology which won. I ended up as a student for seven years."

His first post was as a curate in Bassaleg where he was very happy with a 'lovely' congregation at St John's Church, Rogerstone. During that time the church was completely refurbished and Jeremy enjoyed his involvement with the thriving youth club, spending camping holidays in West Wales as part of a scheme to give deprived children a holiday. Because of his experience  he became the Monmouth diocesan children's advisor in 1983.

Then it was time to move on and he was promoted to vicar of the St Arvans group of churches at Chepstow, which proved a great challenge because he was responsible for five churches. During his 10 years in that job he oversaw the restoration of three of the churches and became involved in work with the National Farmers' Union and the Young Farmers' Club movement.

Then in 1989 his musical talents were brought to the fore when he was asked to write a children's opera to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the diocese. Entitled Dance In The Desert, it involved all the children attending church schools throughout the Monmouth diocese – no mean task to organise and galvanise them.

Two of the schools involved were from the Abergavenny area - Llanfair Kilgeddin and Llantilio Pertholey. The opera was based on Madeleine L'Endle's story about the holy family's flight from Palestine into Egypt. The two performances at Fairwater Leisure Centre were highly acclaimed.

Then in 1993 Jeremy moved to Abergavenny where he faced a very big challenge because historian Gwyn Jones had identified the importance of St Mary's Church collection of 14 ancient monuments.

"I had a wonderful committee led by Peter Williams, with the inspirational Gwyn Jones, John Tyrrell, Alan Williams and our museum curator Frank Olding. We were told it would take ten years and I said we could do it in less and we did. We managed to raise £250,000 and Cadw gave us the rest," said Jeremy

There were other huge challenges for him to encounter. "I came to realise that Abergavenny is a mixed community and remains so. It is not necessarily cohesive or homogenised and I'm always very much aware that I am not so much vicar of the church but of the parish and I minister more to people who don't go to church than to those who do. I have lived here longer than I've lived anywhere in my life so this is very much home to me and leaving is therefore harder.

"At least I have the thought that when I eventually retire I have the opportunity to return to Abergavenny."

He admits it has not always been plain sailing. "There have been skirmishes and difficulties. I have handled volatile situations on occasions and challenges that have left me disillusioned but that is what carrying the cross is all about."

Does he have any regrets about his ministry in Abergavenny? He has a few, "I regret that the ecumenical side has been unsuccessful but rejoice that we have developed a close working relationship with the Roman Catholic Church in Abergavenny which has a lot to do with developing community facilities like St Mary's Priory Centre and St Michael's Centre.

"And we have a very much closer association with other Anglican churches, particularly Holy Trinity and the Govilon parish with Llanfoist and Llanellen. I have always wanted to see St Teilo's at Llantilio Pertholey strengthened because it has always been a strong parish so the recent appointment of Father Robbie Dennis has pleased me."

But he worries about the future of the Church in Wales, "As church membership falls away – it has dropped by 37 per cent in the last 20 years – the ability to maintain church ministry has become more difficult. We are down to four paid clergymen in this area and eventually that will become just one so there will be a whole different pattern of ministry with more non stipendiary and lay-led services."

He is also concerned about the number of families in Abergavenny  who use the church for christenings and funerals but rarely commit themselves to attending church regularly.

On a brighter note he says, "We do however have positive signs of growth in young families attending St Mary's with all-age activities and all-age worship at 9.30am where we have around 20 children and 30 adults. That has developed from nothing."

The choir, under the expert eye of director of music Tim Pratt, has gone from strength to strength with 36 members covering a wide age range. Their expertise and skill was never better demonstrated than during the recent Arts Festival. The church is also lucky to have the talented organist Judith Pendrous. This was always a voluntary post until the appointment of Meirion Wyn Jones, who is now employed at Brecon Cathedral.

Said Jeremy, "You need constancy and commitment and during my 18 years' ministry in Abergavenny I have seen constancy of effort and commitment and I am very grateful to everyone for not turning their back on me during my six-month illness and convalescence. I felt carried and loved during that time."

He recalls with pride the achievements of the St Mary's Development Trust, led by the formidable Sir Trefor Morris which has seen the development of the Priory Centre and Tithe Barn visitor centre, and led to two visits by their patron, the Prince of Wales.

"Through his staff we have been in regular contact and he shows a keen interest in our work. He has been a very good friend to St Mary's Church. When he returned in 2008 to open the Tithe Barn it was like welcoming back an old friend." He is also immensely proud of the new tree-lined courtyard which was his original idea.

Jeremy was full of praise for the loyal and committed church wardens who have served him and the church so well during the past two decades. "I have been fortunate to have some outstanding wardens, particularly the late Gilbert Fury. He was a rock to me. I have never worked with such a wonderful group of people, they have been marvellous. People like Lilian Price who is so loyal and hard working."

Although he has huge misgivings about leaving Abergavenny he is happy to face up to the challenge of working as the Dean of St Woolos Cathedral, Newport, following in the footsteps of the Reverend Richard Fenwick who is to become Bishop of St Helena.

"It is quite a challenge but I am looking forward to helping to integrate the cathedral community with the rest of the diocese and the city of Newport itself.

 "I have enjoyed living where I do, despite the boy racers, because my garden is a haven for wildlife and I am a keen ornithologist.

"I am blessed with wonderful friends and a lovely family and as I enjoy cooking I love entertaining them all. But I do regret there were never enough hours in the day to meet the needs of all the people. I am very pleased though that St Mary's has gone from being a church to being the parish church which is very much at the heart of the community. We have five or six christenings every Sunday until I leave at the end of August."

There have been many highlights during his time here, like the school carol concerts and the Abergavenny Amateur Operatic  and Dramatic Society centenary concert. He said the recent Arts Festival at the church was 'the cherry on top of the trifle'.

He admits he is a gadget man and says he cannot live without his dishwasher, and relies entirely on his Filofax and Ipad 2 to remind him of his busy schedule. But he is also a practical man and can knit and sew. He was taught well by his mother who believed in teaching both her sons all the life skills they needed to survive when living alone. He is the very proud uncle of a 21 year old niece and 18 year old nephew.

For now, he is busily putting the final touches to an anthem he has composed for his installation service and sorting out what extra furniture he will need to fill his new nine-bedroom home in Newport.

But while he looks forward to the challenge of his new post, the people of Abergavenny who have come to know and love him will be very sad to see him move on in his ministry.