Derbyshire company launches new digital memorial bench
The QR code can also be used to record information about the place where a bench has been situated, with one of the first examples being Shipley Country Park in Derbyshire
TDP Ltd, a Derbyshire business that makes outdoor furniture from recycled plastic, has launched a highly innovative new memorial bench digital platform to help tell the stories of those who have passed on.
The company, which was recently crowned with a ‘King’s Award for Sustainable Development’, has launched ‘My Place and Story’, which will allow those who buy one of the company’s commemorative benches to add a QR code so that anyone sitting on it can scan the code and read the life story of the person being remembered.
The QR code can also be used to record information about the place where a bench has been situated, with one of the first examples being Shipley Country Park in Derbyshire.
Kym Barlow, commercial director of TDP Ltd, whose parents Rob and Anne set up the company, said: “We are very excited about our ‘My Place and Story’ project and we hope that it may provide some comfort to those who want to remember their loved ones with a memorial bench, to know that others can now find out more about their life.
“Everyone deserves to be remembered and we hope that our scheme will allow more memories to be preserved.”
She added: “We also felt it was important for people to be able to discover more about places they visit, too. The QR Code placed on one of our benches can be used for visitors to places to discover more about where they are, including its history and interesting landmarks.”
One of the first life stories to be commemorated in the benches is former Welsh international rugby player, Brian Davies, who won three rugby caps for Wales in the 1960s. The bench sits proudly outside the rugby club house at Pentyrch near Cardiff – his last club before he passed away in September 2020.
It is among the company’s first to feature a QR code so that anyone passing by can learn more about Davies’ life and the reason why his memorial bench is situated at Pentyrch.
His widow, Enid Davies, said she could not be more pleased and touched that her husband’s story was being commemorated in such a way.
She said: “I think it’s a lovely idea, it really is. You see these plaques put in parks and you think ‘that’s nice’ – you see a name but there’s always a story, too. I think it’s a lovely thing to do, to not think of sad things but to think of all the joyous things.”
