HE has opened and closed the gates to York's City Walls for more than 37 years, walking six miles along the walls each day to notch up a total trek of 40,000 miles.

He carried on even after a group of yobs threw him off the wall near Walmgate Bar about 15 years ago, injuring his ankle as he fell down the grassy embankment.

But now Bar Walls Attendant Chris Wooldridge is opening and closing the walls for one final time today, Boxing Day.

Chris, 61, of Holgate, said he had decided it was time to retire from the job,which he had started at Easter 1984, because he was getting tired of having to get up so early in the morning to open the 18 gates.

He said the job involved him assessing the weather forecasts and reports to decide whether it was safe for people to go on the walls, with ice, snow and gales all making it too dangerous to open the gates.

He said the gates once had to remain closed for an entire month - in December 2010 - because York was experiencing such cold and snowy weather, and they also had to stay shut recently because of the winds caused by Storm Arwen.

Chris said his job involved walking along sections of the wall from gate to gate, ensuring no one was still on the wall when they were shut and ending up trapped for the night.

Some times people did not want to leave the walls and were annoyed at being ushered off, with drunken racegoers particularly awkward.

He said he almost gave up the job after being thrown off the wall, when his ankle injury forced him to take several weeks off work.

However, he was supported by colleagues at City of York Council such as city centre manager Paul Barrett and street cleansing supervisor Paul Willey, with supporters accompanying him on his rounds of the walls and he was gradually able to re-build his confidence.

Chris said he shared the job with Neil Hulse, working seven days on and then seven days off.

In the summer, he wouldn't close the walls until 9pm, but in the winter he had to start shutting them at about 3.30pm each day.

Chris said he would miss the job but wasn't sure at this stage whether he would still walk the walls for fun, when it was no longer his job.

*The medieval Bar Walls - a key attraction for tourists visiting York - are a scheduled ancient monument encircling the city, built mainly in the 13th century of magnesian limestone, and are the longest town walls in England, with two miles of surviving masonry.