Opera at the Priory will pay tribute to late Father Jeremy of Abergavenny (From Free Press Series)

Opera at the Priory will pay tribute to late Father Jeremy of Abergavenny

4:30pm Wednesday 21st November 2012 in News

A CONCERT of opera extracts will be staged at St Mary’s Priory Church in Abergavenny to mark the first anniversary of the death of the Very Revd Jeremy Winston.

Father Jeremy, who had been Vicar of Abergavenny for 18 years, died on November 21 last year, two months after taking over as Dean of Newport Cathedral.

His death, at the age of 57, came on the day he was day he was due to start treatment for a brain tumour.

The Opera at the Priory concert, on Friday, November 30, will be performed by post-graduate students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

“Fr Jeremy loved opera and was also very keen on encouraging young people to develop their talents and skills, so this concert is highly appropriate and will be a wonderful evening,” said Fr Mark Soady, Vicar of Abergavenny.

The evening will raise money for the St Mary’s Winston Appeal, which seeks to create a permanent memorial to Fr Jeremy at St Mary’s.

Fr Jeremy grew up in Griffithstown, Pontypool, before training as teacher at Trinity College in Carmarthen. He went on to theological college at St Stephen’s House in Oxford and was ordained in 1979.

He served in Bassaleg and St Arvan’s, before becoming vicar of St Mary’s in Abergavenny in 1993.

He became area dean for Abergavenny in 2002, and became a canon of Newport cathedral in the same year.

Tickets for the event, which starts at 7.30pm, are £15, available from the Tithe Barn 01873 858787 or on the door.

Refreshments will be available before and after the concert.