TRIBUTES have been paid to the driving force behind a project to set up a community orchard and gardens in Abergavenny.

Laurence Raymond Jones, known as Laurie, was one of the founders of the Abergavenny Area Community Orchard and Gardens Community Interest Group that formed in 2011. As chairman and director of the group he helped to secure a 25-year lease with Monmouthshire council on one acre of land in Mill Street to develop the orchard.

Mr Jones, of Mount Street, Abergavenny, who died aged 72 on December 4 from pancreatic cancer was described as an ‘inspirational leader’ who was passionate about the community.

As a tribute to him the orchard will be re-named bilingually as The Laurie Jones Community Orchard and ‘Perllan Gymunedol Laurie Jones’ and carved in stone as a permanent memorial.

Friend and colleague Marion Pearse said he was greatly admired and impossible to replace.

She said: “He will be remembered as a man of action rather than words, filled with boundless enthusiasm and a sense of fun: a true force for good.”

Mr Jones was born in Llanfihangel Crucorney to parents Ida and Hywel Glynn Jones. After completing his O Levels at a Grammar School in Nottinghamshire where the family lived, he moved to London to join the police force. A routine examination revealed he was colour blind and found himself in a junior post at the Home Office.

Aged 21 he married to Sheila and the couple had daughters, Jennie and Oonagh. In 1984 he married Shirley and had sons John and Owen.

Mr Jones rose through the Home Office ranks and was an experienced Trade Union representative. In 1997 following triple by-pass surgery he retired and became a 'house dad.'

In 1999 Mr Jones returned home to Wales, settling in Mount Street. He joined Plaid Cymru, volunteered as a classroom helper, and later became a parent-governor at the former Park Street Primary school. He was elected as an Abergavenny Town Councillor and served on the board of governors at King Henry VIII Comprehensive School but was unable to continue these roles beyond one term of office after being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2007.

During his 15 years in the town he was involved in several organisations and groups including Abergavenny Climate Action which became Abergavenny Transition Town and The Friends of Castle Meadows.

His vision was to make Abergavenny the centre of a thriving local food system with community growing spaces and helped found the orchard, which aims to provide people with the opportunity to get involved in the garden and promote sustainability.

Jeff Davies, who worked with Mr Jones in the orchard and Incredible Edibles, said he believed in doing things for now for a better future- particularly for the young people and had an infectious enthusiasm.