A local community has taken reading on the toilet to the next level by converting a portaloo into a public library.
Residents of Hawksland, in South Lanarkshire, came up with the crazy idea to raise spirits during the lockdown.
The green plastic portalibrary is also helping raise money for charity and remember a popular local.
The fantastic initiative is not the first by Scottish communities.
Last month The Record told how the New Abbey community, in Dumfries, converted a disused garage into a local swap box.
Dorothy Combe, the brains behind the Hawksland cludgie, named it the “WC Reading Room” after her husband Willie who sadly passed away.
Mike Taylor, chairman of the community council, said the loo has gone down a storm with locals since it was introduced a month ago.
He said that once shelves were put up, the loo was painted and the pan was given a spring clean it was soon filled with books, games, jigsaws, magazines and CDs
And once a bottle of hand sanitiser was added it was ready to use.
Mike said: “We’re feeling flushed with success because the loo has been really well received by everyone in the area.
“It’s the perfect solution for people that have read all their books or done all their jigsaws during the lockdown and run out of things to do.”
Mike added: “Dorothy came up with the idea so it was only fitting that we named the loo the WC after WQuiillie, who was very popular.”
The toilet was once used in the legendary annual Hawksland Bogie go-kart Race that has since been shelved.
Mike said that any money raised by the community from the loo and other fundraising activities is going toward the Glasgow City Mission, The Haven and The Scottish Wildlife Trust.
Communities across Scotland have converted phone boxes into libraries and food donation points for years, but Hawksland’s effort is the first portaloo.
The Daily Record told last month how the New Abbey community, in Dumfries, converted a disused garage into a local swap box.
Founder Tracy Adamson said the idea has been so successful that people are competing with each other by posting photos of completed jigsaws online and racing to get a new one.
The initiative has also led to locals putting up teddy bears in their windows to keep the children’s spirits up.
