Ron is a very cheerful man. We meet in Oxford city centre and he tells me a lot of his story as we wait in an incredibly long queue to get a cup of tea in the Marks & Spencer café.

He describes his busy life, juggling working four days a week as a custodian at Christ Church with volunteering at the John Radcliffe Hospital and at 74, as Oxford’s longest serving Samaritan. Amazingly, he also finds time to volunteer for Steppin’ Stone, a charity that provides support for homeless and vulnerably housed people in Oxford.

Ron clearly loves all of his roles and talks about his life enthusiastically. His day job involves donning a bowler hat and suit to work at Christ Church, where he is one of a team of custodians who are charged with looking after the security of the historic college. A chat with a friendly custodian can be an important part of a visit to Christ Church. If tourists have questions about the college, or the cathedral that is nestled within it, custodians are on hand to provide answers. He is usually there four days a week, 8am to 6pm.

Ron is also a member of the Christ Church congregation, and a sidesperson within the cathedral. “I basically greet the worshippers, show them to their seats and do the collection. People come from all over to hear the choir.” When he is not working there he says he enjoys the traditional Anglican services. “When I go into London I go to services at St Paul’s, I’m a member of the Friends of St Paul’s. When I lived in London I went to St Saviour’s Church. I went to church and Sunday School from as far back as I can remember,” he says. Ron grew up in Shepherd’s Bush and still goes back to visit friends and family.

Ron is extremely sociable and loves to travel. When we met he had recently returned from Poland, where he had visited a tourist he met at the Cathedral. He’s also been to Brisbane, in Australia, to stay with a friend, although his usual holiday destination is Brighton.

He became a red coat at Butlins after winning a talent contest during a holiday in 1963. He had worked in the funeral trade, a job he went back to each year when the holiday season was over. “I did 10 Christmases at Butlins too and I used to be Father Christmas. There would be 8,000 people there over Christmas, with nearly 2,000 children, because the resort was mostly for families,” he says. His time as a Red Coat saw him working alongside people like Jimmy Cricket, Michael Barrymore and George Martin, who wrote music for the Beatles. After leaving Butlins he volunteered as Father Christmas at his church in London.

He moved to Oxford in the 1970s when his aunt and uncle lived on Iffley Road and another aunt lived on Blackbird Leys. His sister Phyllis has two children and still lives in London. When he first moved here, he lived in the then new Pegasus Court Flats, and was re-housed when they were demolished. When he first moved here, Ron worked in Selfridges Toy Department and as an Usher at Oxford Crown Court until a vacancy came up for a custodian at Christ Church. When he first started there in 1989, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was Residentical Canon. Ron was reunited with him when he visited the Oxford Diocese in May.

He began hospital work, volunteering at the Radcliffe Infirmary since 1981. He works as a guide, manning a desk and pointing people in the right direction when they check in.  Among his many interests are health and fitness and he goes to festivals and conferences on the subject. “I don’t smoke or drink and I do lots of exercises,” he says. Last Christmas he walked about three miles from his flat to the Oxford Children’s Hospital.

“On Christmas Day I do the children’s wards at the hospital, and then they organise a taxi to take me to the Salvation Army. A lot of the children who are in hospital on Christmas Day are really poorly. Most of them go home if they are well enough, so the ones left are very ill or are tiny babies, but their parents will bring their brothers and sisters with them and I give gifts to them,” says Ron. “At the Salvation Army they host 70 or 80 people who are living on their own.” After carol singing and lunch at the Salvation Army, Ron puts his red suit and white beard back on to hand out more gifts.

It’s not surprising that Ron was awarded the MBE, specifically for services to Christ Church, seven years ago. He spoke proudly of the moment he met the Queen. “When she handed me the award she said ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, I’m very fond of Oxford and I’m the Visitor of Christ Church’.”