THE people of Upper Stratton will bid farewell to a vicar, architect, coal mine worker and counsellor at St Bartholomew's Church.

The Rev Keith Greenslade died on January 22 after a long illness, but he made a lasting impression on the parishioners of St Philip's Church, after serving the parish for 27 years.

Born in Eastville, Bristol, in 1927, the Rev Greenslade was called up at the end of the Second World War and spent his National Service as a Bevan Boy in the South Wales coalfields.

Even while working underground, however, he was developing his natural talent for art and design, which would lead him to train and qualify as an architect.

In the meantime, a long-term involvement in church affairs, which began with lay reading in 1955, eventually saw him return to South Wales to train for the ministry, and he was ordained in 1963.

He became a curate in Bristol and later at St Paul's in Chippenham, and also at Langley Burrell, taking the post previously held by Francis Kilvert, author of Kilvert's Diary.

He finally went to St Philip's in June, 1968, where he used his architectural background and woodworking skills to make permanent improvements to the church.

Most notable among many additions he made to the building is a screen that serves as a war memorial, which he had originally designed for St Thomas's in Eastville, Bristol.

He also oversaw the installation of St Philip's small bell tower, which was originally part of the Congregational Church in Sanford Street.

When that church was demolished, the Rev Greenslade rescued the tower from the rubble and kept it at the vicarage until it could be transplanted to St Philip's in 1979.

He was an architectural adviser to the Bristol Diocese for 30 years, and his dedication to pastoral care also extended beyond his parish.

A long-term volunteer with The Samaritans, he went on to become a director of Swindon Samaritans.

In 1995 he retired to Wootton Bassett, where he became an assistant priest at St Bartholomew's Church, where today's funeral is being conducted by the Rev Thomas Woodhouse.

The Rev Greenslade had a love of the countryside, an insatiable appetite for current affairs and a thirst for knowledge and was also a family man.

He and his widow Pat were married for 48 years, and he also leaves two children, James and Clare, and two grandchildren, Rebecca and Matthew.

The family has received many tributes , summed up by St Philip's chorister Eileen Scott, who said she had a deep affection for a "quiet and gentle man".