Story of Inverness man included in WaterAid online exhibition
AN Inverness grandfather will feature in a new online exhibition for his efforts to improve sanitation services in Scotland.
The story of Barry Hardy (67), from Westhill, is part of the collection portrayed in Toilet Stories, a new online exhibition by the charity WaterAid which launched this week to mark UN World Toilet Day yesterday.
The new online gallery includes stories and portraits from Rwanda, Madagascar and the UK and explores the lives of those affected by a lack of decent toilets – one in four people globally – and those whose lives have been transformed by them.
In the exhibition Mr Hardy, who volunteers for WaterAid and has worked for 25 years with Scottish Water, shares his experience of growing up at a time when having an outside toilet was commonplace across the UK.
“I am delighted to be featured in the online gallery,” he said. “I feel I can bring my childhood experiences to the fore when I deliver talks as a speaker for WaterAid explaining that it’s not that long ago that many of us were in a similar position as those worldwide who have limited access to these facilities today.
“It’s hard to believe that in the 1970s it wasn’t unusual for householders not to have sanitation in their own homes in what we might call the modern age. At the time we had men on the moon but still many in the UK had no bathrooms or toilets indoors.”
In the exhibition, he explains: “The longer I spent in the water industry, the more sympathy I had for people who simply didn’t have what we were trying to repair and keep running – taps and toilets.
“It may not be the most glamorous of subjects, but life without a toilet is bleak.”
People can access the gallery created by photographer Elena Heatherwick and journalist Sally Williams and all the stories by visiting toilet-stories.wateraid.org
The project is supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery.
