Dad-of-two Mickey Dobie has launched a campaign to provide Marlborough with more public seating – and says he is prepared to install at least one bench himself in memory of his wife.

Mr Dobie, 70, a lifelong Marlborough resident, feels the town’s lengthy High Street is in urgent need of more benches.

The retired proof reader has written to Marlborough Town Council and addressed a meeting on the issue and has also approached shops to see if they are willing to have public seating outside.

“The comeback I’ve had from shop managers that I’ve have spoken to has been quite favourable,” he said.

On Saturday he will begin raising funds by holding a garage sale at South View Place, off Blowhorn Street, to help pay for a seat.

Mr Dobie said: “I’m out and about in Marlborough every day and it’s obvious to me there aren’t enough public seats.

“You see youngsters sitting on the pavement all the time – especially waiting for the school bus.

“They are actually causing a nuisance by blocking the pathway because there’s nowhere else to sit.”

Mr Dobie recently saw a woman being helped into an ambulance after collapsing in the High Street.

He felt that if there was more public seating around she may have been able to sit down and prevent the collapse.

“Possibly she felt ill and had nowhere to sit and recover,” he said.

As well as providing an important piece of street furniture he said a seat would also serve as a tribute to his late wife Heather, along with those who raised money to help her.

He said: “Some years ago the people of Marlborough raised enough money in three months to buy a dialysis machine for Heather, who was travelling to Oxford for treatment three times a week.”

Mrs Dobie received a kidney transplant 26 years before she died of cancer, aged 51, in 2006.

Town councillor Nick Fogg said: “I can see Mr Dobie’s point in raising this issue but there are difficulties which need to be examined.”

He said seats had to be positioned where it could be shown that they did not interfere with the free flow of pedestrians.