A unique gift to the City of Canterbury
In spring 2025 our Club unveiled a unique gift to the City of Canterbury – The Point.
Located in Canterbury’s Longmarket, The Point is an eye-catching carved stone column that will provide drinking water (via a water-bottle filling) station to visitors and locals alike. Rotary International’s 7th and newest area of focus is the environment. This innovative project is our ecological statement.
THE POINT will …
… help the environment
Over 1 billion plastic bottles are estimated to be used daily worldwide. Our unique drinking water project will contribute to tackling this horrifying statistic. In addition, through our global Rotary network, we hope The Point will inspire others worldwide.
… save millions of single-use plastic bottles going to waste
Nearly 8 million people visit the City of Canterbury each year to experience its remarkable history, beautiful gardens and literary links. Tourism generates a staggering amount of single-use plastic bottles being discarded, wasting natural resources and contributing to landfill waste and plastic pollution. The Point addresses this problem.
… provide FREE drinking water to millions of visitors and locals
Visitors and the homeless all need an easily accessible way of filling drinking water bottles. The Point will save them time and money and help keep them all hydrated, all while helping the environment.
… serve as a new attraction to our city that we hope locals and visitors will love, revitalising our city centre
This one-of-a-kind structure will be located at the heart of the city centre – just a stone’s throw from Canterbury Cathedral. Designed by local architects and created by local professionals and craftspeople, it is a unique piece of public art. It brings stone and steel together in a novel way not done before. Its reflective steel aperture is perfect for capturing pictures to share on social media and spread awareness of The Point and how important it is to reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles. The Point will thus be a landmark that attracts visitors to Canterbury and sends a loud and powerful message to all – we do not need single-use plastic bottles!
Click here to read our article about the unveiling of The Point.
The project to create The Point was entirely funded by private donations, with the last of the funds donated directly or indirectly following a GoFundMe campaign.
Click here to watch a short YouTube video that we created when fundraising.
You can click here to see our GoFundMe campaign page
We’re immensely proud of the design and purpose of The Point and wholeheartedly believe it’s a monumental step in the right direction to reducing pollution.
Do visit The Point if you come to Canterbury – and don’t forget to take your photo through the hole!
We are grateful to all of our donors who made generous donations at a time that was very challenging for many. All those donations, however big or small they were, will now make a huge impact by:
- helping to stop millions of plastic bottles going into landfill waste
- helping millions of visitors to Canterbury have access to FREE drinking water
- helping to revitalise Canterbury’s City centre
- helping to inspire a movement around the country, or even the world, that helps millions more.
On behalf of our Club and on behalf of the planet, we thank you for taking an interest. That is The Point.
This page was updated following the unveiling of The Point.
