FOR the past eight years The Very Revd. Bob Wilkes has preached to his parishioners alongside the sound of buskers plying for trade outside his church's front door.

This weekend he will lead his last Sunday service at St Michael at the North Gate in Cornmarket Street, before retiring.

But the minister remains in no mood to 'do something' about the racket made by buskers – despite some grumbles.

Revd. Wilkes, who doubles as the city's rector, said: "Someone asked me: can't you just shut them up?

"But I say no, actually we encourage them, and some have even played for me in the church.

"You have to recognise the street is our parish.

We are not just here for our own members. Every parish has a bit of the earth's surface to pray about and be bothered about and we are bothered about the whole of life.

“So we are here for all those who come to eat beef burgers or sushi or go to the ATMs and clubs – as much as we are for the few who actually live around here.

“The most important thing we do in the morning is open the door and let all of life in.”

The occasional cover of ‘Hey Jude’ and the constant chatter of city life is a far cry from the everyday soundtrack of Revd. Wilkes’ previous parish in Afghanistan, where he spent much of the 14 years prior to joining St Michael's.

Recalling his years spent in the war-torn country with the Church Mission Society, he said: "When you are in a war zone, your brain attunes to loud noises – was it a gun, a bomb or rocket propelled grenade?

"How far away was it? And was it coming this way or the other?

"You attune very quickly to the sound because it tells you how to behave and what you must do to keep safe.

"That made bonfire night interesting when I came home.

"It's these strange and small adjustments you have to make."

Revd. Wilkes, 69, returned to Oxford, having been a student in the city, in 2009 when he was appointed by the then Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard.

He has become a familiar face, blessing the St Giles' Fair every year and leading the city’s remembrance service.

The first full time vicar at St Michael's in quite some time, he says he was told by the bishop: “Lots of people do wild, wacky and wonderful things for the students in Oxford.

"You are there for the city – I want to tell the city leaders 'there's your church person.’

"It was a period of uncertainty, Oxford has a lot of churches so people naturally worry if we have too many.

"My mission was to renew our morale, sense of purpose and get organised and on with the job."

The father-of-four says that the role of city rector, which has always traditionally been given to the vicar of St Michael, is 'undefined' but it allows him to take a behind the scenes role as a moral sounding board for councillors, some of whom have compared him to a 'one man House of Lords.’

He says that he often gets complemented for staying until the end of council meetings, a tough ask for anybody, and that councillors 'who are not necessarily of a religious faith appreciate the interest and care of the church’.

"I try and get a sense of the issues the city is facing and see where I can help.

"I have worked on homelessness and refugees in particular.

“One councillor told us: ‘I want to thank you guys, if the church wasn't doing youth work in my ward there wouldn't be any.’

"It isn't like these things wouldn't have happened without me but I hope I helped it happen well."

Revd. Wilkes also volunteers at the Campsfield Immigration Removal centre in Kidlington where he says that his previous work in the Middle East and Asia helps him to connect with the asylum seekers awaiting deportation.

He said: “A lot of the men I meet there are from places I know quite well. I am meeting Iranians, Afghans, Pakistanis, Syrians.

“I can speak bits of their language and if I say, meet an Iranian detainee, and ask him where he's from he thinks I won't know the place but when he tells me and I say I have been there, the dynamic between us totally changes.”

Jo Moffett Levy, the vicar at St. Frideswide's Church in Botley Road, trained under Revd. Wilkes for four years.

She says: “He was an amazing role model.

“He is great at bringing people together and takes everyone as they come.

“Because of its location, all manner of people come through the door of the church and he is fantastic at dealing with all of them.

“The city will miss him a lot.”

A more rural life in Kirtlington beckons for the retiring vicar, who says that he and his American-born wife Sheila, 66, can ‘no longer to afford to live in Oxford itself.’

He says he feels ‘very odd’ about stepping away from ordained ministry after 44 years but won’t be passing on any advice.

“There's a church tradition that a departing vicar does not interfere with the successor.

“What I hope I have done is overseen a rise in morale and sense of purpose in the congregation and helped the church be functional.

"I am very confident about its future.

“It is not my job to say how it should develop but I hope the new priest will find a community and organisation ready for the next step.

“I've probably made all kinds of mistakes but somehow God makes something of our efforts and you trust him that you've done ok.

“This has been a city we have loved for many years. It's always felt like my place and I feel honoured and grateful to have had this opportunity.”