St James the Great aims to start a revo-loo-tion with toilet twinning

The team at St James the Great Church in Thorley have raised more than £1,670 to twin their toilets with those in the developing world.

For a £60 donation, any individual toilet can be twinned with an impoverished family’s household latrine to provide them with better sanitation.

The money raised has been donated to Toilet Twinning, a charity which builds basic toilets, gives people access to clean water and educates them about hygiene.

During the church’s services in June, the community of St James learned that 32% of the world’s population has inadequate sanitation.

The congregation learned how they could have a positive impact by twinning the toilets in their various church buildings.

With gifts from the congregation and groups such as Little Worship, Tea Cups and the Parochial Church Council, the church raised enough to twin all the toilets in its buildings, including the rectory and the curate’s house.

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Twinning certificates will now be proudly displayed in each of the 15 loos, and the church hopes that this will encourage those who see them to take individual action by twinning their own toilets at home.

Churchwarden Pippa Roy-Chowdhury said: “The community of St James prays that the toilet twinning will bless the benefitting communities and their families.

“The next step will be to encourage others to do the same and to promote toilet twinning in the wider community of Thorley and Bishop’s Stortford, both from individuals and businesses too.

“Anyone can twin a toilet for around £60 and will be sent a certificate to hang in their loo, showing a photograph of their overseas toilet twin and the GPS co-ordinates so they can look up the twin’s location on Google Maps!”