CARING pupils in Barnard Castle are helping bring good sanitary facilities to those less fortunate than themselves through a unique twinning scheme.
Green Lane Primary School was among the first organisations in the town to embrace toilet twinning and last week sponsored its fourth bathroom block.
Having already covered the cost of toilets in Malawi, Pakistan and the Ivory Coast, Green Lane is now helping a school in Uganda.
While the school had raised money to support the first three schools, the latest toilet twinning agreement was gifted to Green Lane by the scheme’s Barney co-ordinator Ian Blake in memory of his mother, who died last year.
“I was left some money and I thought it would be great to give it to Green Lane to support a whole school toilet block,” he said.
“One of the things that does happen in the countries concerned is that girls in particular will not go to school unless there is a safe place to go to the toilet.”
Green Lane head teacher Rob Goffee said the importance of good facilities was brought home during the pandemic, when additional new facilities were built at the school to help children cope with the Covid-19 measures that were put in place.
“We take the toilets for granted,” he said.
“We don’t realise what an important part of the school building the toilet is.
“We think about it the least but it is the most important. Even here we have had to put in new facilities to help with health and hygiene.”
About 40 organisations in and around Barnard Castle have supported the toilet twinning initiative.
For £60, a latrine with hand washing facility can be built in communities where none are present. For more information, contact Mr Blake at barneystoilettwinning@gmail.com.
