The life of a much-loved Welsh former international rugby player has been commemorated in an innovative new memorial bench digital platform.
A bench commemorating the life and career of Brian Davies, who won three rugby caps for Wales in the 1960s, sits proudly outside the rugby club house at Pentrych near Cardiff – his last club before he passed away in September 2020.
But the bench has a difference: the brainchild of award-winning Derbyshire sustainable business TDP Ltd, it features a QR code so that anyone passing by can learn more about Brian’s life and the reason why his memorial bench is situated at Pentrych.
Brian’s widow Enid 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.”
Those who happen to pass by the bench commemorating Brian Davies can now find out all about the man whose rugby playing career started out at Stradley Park Llanelli near his home village of Llangennech. He went on to win his first cap for Wales in a 1962 game against Ireland.
Brian remained a well-known voice on rugby as a radio and television commentator, and he lent his expertise to Pentrych Rugby Club by transforming the way players trained and played.
The memorial bench in his name has been made by award-winning TDP Ltd of Wirksworth in Derbyshire, which has launched its “My Place and Story” project allowing anyone who buys a commemorative bench in memory of a loved one to add a QR code so that those sitting on it can scan the code and read the life story of the person commemorated.
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.
Rob Barlow, owner of TDP Ltd – which was recently crowned with a coveted King’s Award for Sustainable Development – said: “We are very excited about ‘My Place and Story’ 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.
“We were delighted that Enid was keen for her husband Brian to be commemorated with one of these benches. Hopefully it presents a great opportunity for others to find out more about this remarkable man and his life in rugby and the local area.
“Memorial benches are a lovely way to remember those who have left us. They give an opportunity for people to sit quietly in a place that person used to visit, and think about the happy times. Here at TDP we have gone one step further and created our digital platform so that people sitting on a memorial bench can, if they choose, find out about a person’s life by simply scanning the code on their phone.
“Everyone deserves to be remembered and we hope that our scheme will allow more memories to be preserved.
“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.”
TDP’s benches are made from 100 per cent British recycled plastic, with company owners Rob and Anne passionate in their mission to prevent plastic from getting into landfill where it often ends up clogging up waterways and oceans. Some scientists predict that if more is not done, by 2050 there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish.
Plastic is a huge environmental problem because it takes hundreds of years to break down, but its durability is a benefit when made into outdoor furniture as it is extremely hard-wearing and needs no maintenance. With every order, TDP provides a certificate with detailed information about how much plastic has been saved from the oceans, and how much CO2 has been prevented from going into the atmosphere too.
A Dale Commemorative bench, for example, contains recycled waste from 36,985 plastic bottle tops, stopping 1.49 cubic metres of plastic from going into landfill. Environmentally speaking, the saving is the equivalent of a 975-mile car journey – around the distance from London to Florence in Italy.
Enid said: “This bench will be there long after I’m gone! It doesn’t need someone to replace it after five or ten years. It will be a permanent fixture.”
Find out more about TDP’s My Place and Story scheme here: https://www.tdp.co.uk/our-story/my-place-and-story/
