Mickey Dobie has commissioned a bench in memory of his late wife Heather to thank the people of Marlborough for their fundraising efforts while she was undergoing dialysis.

The bench has been put outside the Jubilee Centre in the High Street and features a plaque dedicated to Mrs Dobie, who died seven years ago of cancer at the age of 53.

When she was diagnosed with kidney failure in the 1970s, the town raised £10,000 for a dialysis machine for her home in Lansdown Place to save her from travelling to Oxford three times a week for treatment.

In 1976 Mrs Dobie, who was born in Pewsey and worked as a cleaner, had a kidney transplant before she used the dialysis machine so it was donated to the Oxford Kidney Unit.

Mr Dobie, 72, donated £380 to Marlborough Town Council for the bench in memory of his wife who he was married to for 35 years.

The father-of-two said: “The seat is really a thank you from me and my two sons for saving up all that money and trying to help.”