Perfect Hot Day to Promote Water Refill Day
Refill Henley-on-Thames marked World Refill Day on Thursday in the sunshine with a stall in Market Place to raise awareness of the campaign that aims to make refilling your bottle as easy and convenient as possible.
Councillor Sarah Miller and resident Julia Carey started their campaign to make Henley a refill town in October 2017 by signing up local businesses to offer free water refills and to display a sign. There are currently 21 businesses in Henley town centre which include Angel on the Bridge, Drifters, Hot Gossip, Spoon and Berries Coffee.
Sarah Miller said, “Today is all about celebrating World Refill Day and also about reminding people about refilling their water bottles. Since we kicked this off in 2017 more people are refilling. We’ve built the number of locations back up to over 20 businesses as we lost a few over the last couple of years. The Pavilion have recently joined as they have a dedicated water fountain. We want to remind people and encourage more businesses to get on board. They can join for free. All they need to do is get in contact with us and it’s a nice bit of promotion. All cyclists or walkers need to do is download the app to find who offers free refills. Today we’ve had lots of people who are aware of refill and saying how good it is. The interest in having a drinking fountain in Market Square is still there. I was hoping to progress this during my Mayoral year but it was crazy and I just didn’t have time but now we have Laurie, our new Town Centre Manager on board I am hoping to achieve this. I have spoken to Marlow about theirs. It would be wonderful on hot days like this you could just fill up your bottle or a bowl of water for your dog here in the Square.”
Henley Mayor, Michelle Thomas visited the stand, she said, “Unfortunately the water refill campaign slowed because of the pandemic. I’m really proud of Councillor Sarah Miller and Julia Carey who have championed this cause for many years now and I think finally in Henley we are tipping over the edge. It’s so good that so many organisations in Henley have become part of the refill campaign. Sarah and Julia are working hard to bring a fountain to Market Place. It’s really interesting we are going full circle in history with water. I’m really look forward to that day happening. I haven’t been using plastic water bottles for very very long time. I really support all the people who are refilling or reducing plastic in Henley. I definitely think it is going the right way. I really want the residents to keep going and I think they’re all doing a great job.”
