A FURNITURE shop is the latest to sign up to a scheme which aims to have every toilet in Barnard Castle twinned with another in an impoverished country.
Whenever an existing toilet is twinned, a new toilet is built in an area where hygiene and health are at risk because of poor sanitation. The scheme is spearheaded by resident Ian Blake who moved to the town 18 months ago.
The loo at Oliviers furniture store, in Galgate, now joins a growing list of twinned toilets in the town, including St Mary’s Church, Green Lane Primary School and Firkin micro pub.
A compositing loo at Brightwoods Forest School, in Startforth, has also been twinned.
Oliviers’ loo has been twinned to a latrine in Ivory Coast, in Africa, because of that country’s timber export industry.
Mr Blake said: “We had the option and given that is a bit of a link to the furniture shop I thought it would be a good idea.”
The twinning coincides with the shop’s 25th anniversary in the town.
Shop manager Paul Olivier said: “It is brilliant. Anything like that hopefully does some good. It [having access to a loo] is something that we take for granted.”
Oliviers was started in Richmond 61 years ago by Mr Olivier’s father, Peter, and the Barnard Castle branch was opened in 1994.
For more information about the scheme visit, toilet
twinning.org.
