A pensioner from Wiltshire is fighting to put things right after the council moved his wife's memorial bench to a 'bird poo hotspot'.
Mickey Dobie, 82, first started campaigning for more public seating in Marlborough in 2014 and decided to install one bench for the public in memory of his late wife Heather.
Heather Dobie, who had been a beloved figure in the community, died of cancer aged 51, in 2006.
Six years on from when the bench was installed in front of the Jubilee Centre on Marlborough's High Street, Marlborough town council have now moved Heather's bench to Priory Gardens, where it is regularly covered in bird poo.
“I put the bench there for the public because my wife had two kidney transplants and the town got together and raised £10,000 to buy a dialysis for her," explained Mickey.
“She lived for 26 years on two kidney transplants. So the bench was my way of remembering her but also saying thank you to all the Marlborough folk who saved all that money to help her.
"But just last month the council rang me and said we're taking your bench away.
“They told me they are redoing the High Street and so my bench would be taken away to Priory Gardens and replaced with two new ones.
"It had taken three years to get permission to put it on the High Street in the first place, and now they have put it under some trees where it’s always covered in bird droppings.
"It's not right. The bench belongs to the Marlborough people and right now it's unusable."
Mickey, who is now retired and spends his time playing music and busking, is now collaborating with the town council to find a solution.
“The council continues to work with Mr Dobie and hopes to resolve the situation in due course,” said a spokesperson for Marlborough Town Council.
This comes after 30 residents all approached Mickey and told him they were going to complain and take action.
"I've now suggested a few possible better places for it, but the council needs to go in and ask permission from the shops and businesses in the High Street first," added Mickey.
“We need more seats in the High Street anyways.
"The seat for my wife had been on the High Street for six years and it belongs to the Marlborough people.
"There's no point in it being there if the people of Marlborough can't use it."
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