A memorial bench in honour of the co-creator of the Makaton sign language has been installed in Kesgrave.

Anthony Cornforth, Kesgrave resident and co-creator of Makaton, has had a bench placed along Ropes Drive, near Lankester way in his honour.

Mr Cornforth's family moved to Kesgrave in 1941, where he was a member of the church choir and local scouts.

After leaving school, he worked for a time for British Fermentation Ltd in Ipswich and then at the Cliff Quay power station before national service in the RAF at the age of 18.

Later, he trained as a nurse at St Clement's Hospital and undertook a long and successful career in the nursing and medical sector before retiring back to the village in 1993.

Mr Cornforth and his partner of 46 years Christopher Fay occupied their time with many hobbies, including cooking, computing, overseas travel and entertaining friends.

During his time in the medical industry, he developed a unique language programme in the 1970s to help children and adults use symbols and signs.

This language has been shown to be useful for those who struggle with understanding concepts, those with poor literacy skills and those with English as an additional language.

The name given to the sign language was Makaton, a splice of the names of the three people involved in its development - MArgaret Walker, KAthy Johnston and TONy Cornforth.

In creating this language, he enabled children and adults to take a more active part in life as communication and language are the key to everything we do and learn.

Mr Cornforth was sadly diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and passed away in 2019.

His partner Christopher said that "his legacy is the part he played helping with the creation of Makaton, one that will live on, serving the wellbeing of thousands throughout the world".

The bench, situated along Ropes Drive, Lankester Way, in Kesgrave, was placed by East Suffolk Council.