MP supports making Poynton a “Toilet Twinned Town”

Local MP, David Rutley, has given his strong support to Poynton becoming a “Toilet Twinned Town”, when he recently met the local scheme organiser, Catherine Hughes, at Poynton Methodist Church.

“Toilet Twinning” is a scheme whereby people “buy” a toilet in a developing country that is twinned to a home, office, place of work or public toilet in a community in the United Kingdom. The donor then receives a certificate which has a photo of the new “twinned toilet” in the developing country, including its GPS coordinates. The money is used to build a toilet and to educate communities about sanitation. Ill health in developing countries is an important cause of poor education, as unwell children are unable to go to school and medical care is expensive, which means less money is available for education – or food. It can also be dangerous to not have a toilet, as alternatives can make girls in particular vulnerable to rape and abuse.

Poynton Methodist Church has been fundraising for the last 18 months in order to twin toilets in Poynton. The scheme organisers encourage anyone who visit the toilets in the Church to “spend a penny” to donate to the scheme and have also been supported by the Poynton Town Council and Poynton Library shared reception area in the Civic Hall, among others, which has collected funds in their two public toilets. 11th Poynton Brownies independently raised £80 to twin a toilet at Lower Park School. Organisers are keen to “match fund’ the twinning of toilets throughout the town. To date, the campaign has resulted in the twinning of 31 toilets, with funding in place for more, which is helping to improve the health outcomes of hundreds of people in developing countries.

To become a Toilet Twinned Town, certain criteria have to be met, which can be found at www.toilettwinning.org.  The criteria include ensuring that the local MP has their toilet twinned. With David accepting his “Toilet Twinning” certificate, local scheme organisers achieved one of their final targets.

After the meeting, David said “I was grateful to receive the certificate from the team in Poynton. It’s clear that projects which promote improved hygiene and sanitation make a big difference in improving the life chances of people in less developed countries. I wish the scheme in Poynton continued success in taking this important work forward and would encourage more local residents and businesses to get involved.”