Through support from Williamson and Priory Friend’s trustee, Corinne Whitham, the gallery has taken the unusual step of twinning the Williamson Art Gallery’s ladies toilets with a toilet in Pakistan.
Corinne held a fund raising event at her home in April with friends. By working with Toilet Twinning, a worldwide water and sanitation charity initiative enough money was raised to twin both Corinne’s own newly installed toilet and another.
With permission from the principal museums officer, Colin Simpson, the Ladies toilet at the gallery was twinned – chosen because of the high footfall from gallery visitors which would help raise awareness of the programme. Apparently displaying certificates in public toilets are the most successful way of raising awareness and many people go on to twin their toilets after seeing a certificate. The costs to twin a toilet are only £60 and by agreeing to twin your toilet, you help those in desperate poverty to have access to a proper latrine, clean water and the information they need to be healthy.
Corinne and her friends chose to twin with toilets (latrines) in Pakistan because aside from the hygiene issues associated with using fields etc, it is a significant safety issue for women going out alone after dark – which is also a reason for choosing to twin the Ladies toilet at the gallery.
If you are interested in hosting a similar event, the toilet twinning website and Facebook page have a lot of information about the work, the countries they work in and why. They also have a map of every twinned toilet in the U.K.! On the website, you can see toilet twinned councils schools universities and even a toilet twinned island – the Isle of Man.
So next time you visit the gallery and need to spend a penny, ladies, check out our certificate.
Changing Places
We also have a large accessible toilet which can be found off the foyer and are registered with Changing Places.
Changing Places toilets are designed to meet the needs of people with complex care needs.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read MoreAccept
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.