A councillor in Wallingford is fighting to get a collection point installed in the town so that people can give in their old foreign currency to go to poorer countries.

South Oxfordshire District Council is asking businesses and individuals to donate money made obsolete by the arrival of the euro to help third world countries.

It is asking people to hand in their old money at the council's headquarters in Crowmarsh and at 'one-stop-shops' in Thame, Didcot and Henley.

Although Wallingford has a town council office, it does not have a one stop shop in which the district council has an interest. So residents will have to take their money to Crowmarsh.

But town and district councillor Denis Strange is fighting to get a collection point at Wallingford town council office.

He said: "The council is launching this a bit late in the day, but it could net a lot of useful money for poor countries. Leaving Wallingford out is a bit crass."

District council chairman Eleanor Hards said all European money was to go to charities like Christian Aid and the Children's Society and would be used to buy food, medicine, shelters and educational supplies.

Mrs Hards said: "No donation is too small. Even a single franc could buy enough maize to feed an Afghan family for a day."