A Cwmbran bride got her husband an unusual gift on their wedding day thanks to help from Newport City Council.
The story began on 2 September 2022 while Darryl Bates was shopping in Newport. His back went into a painful spasm and he couldn’t walk. He called his girlfriend, Keri Murphy, for help.
She found him stood in Commercial Street gripping onto a bin for support. He had been given painkillers from a nearby chemist but was still in agony.
WATCH Keri present Darryl with the bin from Newport
Keri told Cwmbran Life: “The rapid response paramedic soon arrived and administered gas and air which seemed to help. As Darryl started to feel better, he said ‘I just thought of something but I haven’t got it on me’.”
The couple had chosen an engagement ring a few months earlier, but she had no idea of how and when he would propose.
Keri said: “I thought he might be referring to the ring so I jokingly said ‘did you just propose to me?’ And he said ‘yes I did’.
“I did think that it may be a result of the pain medication and the gas and air so I just laughed it off but he asked me again when we got home and again when I finished work so I accepted.
“The bin wasn’t the most romantic setting but it’s definitely been a good story to tell. A week later, Darryl was in Newport and he sent me a picture of the bin with the message
“’There’s my mate Bingy’. He clearly had bonded with this bin.
“I was going to get a replica made to use as a card box on the wedding day and one of my friends said it was a ‘shame you can’t get the actual bin’. A seed was planted.
“I contacted Newport City Council using their online form and explained about the proposal and my desire to have the bin. A few days later I received a call from Steve at the council about the ‘strange web request’ he’d received. I explained the whole situation and he said he’d look into it for me.
“A few days later Steve called back and said that he could put me in touch with their bin supplier for me to buy a new one and that if I wanted the original, he would swap it out.
“I wanted to make sure that Steve removed the correct bin so I told Darryl that I’d entered a competition for the ‘most unusual proposal’ and they wanted photos of us with the bin.
“Darryl came to Newport and posed with me next to the bin but he didn’t know it was all a ruse for me to get a photograph of the bin and the location it was in.
“Via email, I liaised with Steve and the supplier to purchase a new bin and have it delivered to Steve.
Their wedding cake was a copy of the bin
“When the bins had been swapped out, Steve arranged for the proposal bin to be delivered to my sister’s house and it’s been stored in her garage for about 18 months.”
They pair got married last Saturday and during the evening reception at the Olive Tree, ‘Bingy’ was brought out as a special guest. As Keri told the story to the roomful of guests, Darryl asked if the guest was the paramedic who came to his aid.
The bin was wheeled out to cheers and clapping from the wedding guests along with big smiles on the happy couple’s faces.
Keri said that ‘bingy’ will be a feature in their Coed Eva garden.
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