After 51 years' service to local government in Oxfordshire, David Buckle is taking a back seat -- on a bench provided by villagers in recognition of his work for the community.

Mr Buckle with his wife Beryl on one of the new benches Nearly £1,000 was collected from village organisations to pay for the double seat on the old village green in Lower Radley only a short distance from where Mr Buckle, from Radley, near Abingdon, met his wife Beryl.

The seat was presented at a ceremony at which tributes were paid to Mr Buckle for his service to local government. He retired last year.

Mr Buckle, 79, was a former chairman of Oxfordshire County Council and Radley Parish Council. He was a JP on the old Abingdon bench and a member of the southern region Arts Council.

Vice-chairman of the parish council Brian Mott said the collection for the seat was a testament to the respect in which Mr Buckle was held by villagers.

"David was the best chairman I have ever come across. He was always firm but fair as chairman and although he was a political man, he never allowed politics to intervene in parish affairs."

Mr Buckle -- one-time Labour Parliamentary candidate and leading Transport and General Workers Union figure at the Cowley car plant -- said: "I am extremely grateful to the parish council and local organisations for raising so much money towards the seat.

"I hope it has a long life and is left alone so that people can rest and enjoy the scene on their way to or returning from the river."

Lower Radley is an area with fond memories for Mr Buckle, whose first home was in this part of the village and where he met Mrs Buckle, 77.

She said: "We met on the seat that surrounded the old beech tree near the railway bridge.

When we sit on the new double seat on the old village green, we will have some reminiscing to do."