MARK Arnold first set eyes on his wife Kate in candlelight, but it was hardly the most secluded of settings.

For the pair met when they joined hundreds of demonstrators at a peace vigil on the eve of the Iraq War.

Carfax Tower has held a special place for the couple ever since then. And when they heard of fundraising plans for a plaque to honour Oxford's peace campaigners, they recognised the chance to mark the spot where they forged their own special alliance.

Mr Arnold, a composer and record producer, has stepped in to pay £300 towards the plaque, which it is hoped will be laid in the pavement in Cornmarket.

The other £1,000 needed has been donated by one of the Arnold's friends, Paul Greening, who until recently was employed as a United Nations worker in Afghanistan.

Retired priest David Partridge, a former Marine Commando, had been pressing for four years for a peace plaque to recognise the campaigning efforts of conscientious objectors over the past century, including present day protesters against the war in Iraq.

The plaque bears the words: "To honour those of any faith or conviction who in conscience reject warfare and violence and seek another path."

But Mr Partridge, 70, of Ambleside Drive, Headington, had only managed to raise £500 when he spoke about his campaign to The Oxford Times last month.

The article resulted in the Greenings and the Arnolds coming forward to help out.

Mr Greening, 56, of Ferry Road, Marston, said the stone would be a happy reminder of when Mr Arnold met his wife-to-be.

He said: "We were both at a night vigil holding candles and started chatting. The plaque would be a nice way of remembering how we met."

The couple now have a 15-month-old son Torin. Mr Arnold is also celebrating the release of the CD Just Wandering by Nomad, which he produced, on his Oxford-based label Music Plant. Mark also composed the music. He previously worked as an aid worker with Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Mr Greening, who worked for the UN to boost education and democracy in Afghanistan, said: "Strangely enough the idea of a peace plaque had been something I had been talking to a friend about shortly before I left. In Oxford there are a lot of memorials for those involved in war."

Mr Partridge said he would be writing to Oxford City Council, as the planning authority, and County Hall, as the highways authority, setting out his idea.