9/19/2023 0 Comments Old phonebox“They know who it is in the village and they aren’t very well thought of,” said the parish council chairman, Ian Kitson.īe still my fluttering heart. I can assure you it’s no laughing matter in Hurstbourne Tarrant. And someone has been leaving erotic fiction in the phone box in Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire. Well, some of the library boxes have had to be temporarily shut because of Covid. If there’s a downside to cutting vital community services to the point where they can fit inside phone boxes, I can’t see it. In Cheltenham, nine disused boxes have been transformed into single-occupancy art galleries. Some of the kiosks were turned into information centres or mini-museums. So far 6,600 phone boxes have been adopted, and BT just announced another 4,000 are to be made available. Since 2008, its Adopt a Kiosk scheme has allowed communities to purchase its redundant phone boxes for £1. When mobile library funding was cut for Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset, the parish council bought the local phone box and slung up some shelves.īought it from where? From BT. I suppose it’s better than no library at all. “We do try and do a lot of things with the community and it’s just nice to have.Aren’t they a bit small for that? They’re very small libraries – basically community hubs where books can be donated and exchanged. You drive up at night and with the history of the village its nice to see the lights now on and it’s just one of those things that people can appreciate. “It’s had great feedback and it’s lovely to see. “Ballyeaston is a really old village and we moved in about two years ago - everyone in the committee tries to do things for each other like we painted the houses of the elderly people in the row up to the phone box,” he said. John is delighted that their efforts have been able to transform a forgotten part of the village’s history into something all locals can be proud of. We put the books in and take them away and it’s nice to see it being used.” “I put in a notice board just so people could leave funny wee messages as well as a chalkboard for people to say hi to the next person. “We just thought we could freshen up and give some life to it so as to make it part of the community. We got the phone taken out and replaced with shelves and it all came together. John continued: “We had to get it completely rubbed and sanded down and repaint it, sourcing the red paint and gold leaf to do the crown. Since 2008, more than 6,600 phone boxes have been taken on by communities for just £1 each through the Adopt a Kiosk programme. In March, BT announced that almost 4,000 of its phone boxes across the UK were up for grabs. “The box was actually in another lady who lives in the village’s area so we asked her could we take it over and turn it into a wee library - we initially had a few different ideas to do with it but it’s such a small space that we thought a book nook would be a good thing.” “You can approach BT and buy it for £1 and they transfer it across and once we got it, we were allowed to put electricity back into it. Speaking to Belfast Live, John said: “We are part of the Ballyeaston Village Committee and the phone box was owned by BT - we had an idea to turn it into something for the area. John Orr and his wife Betty decided they wanted to create a landmark in the local area and noticed that the disused phone box had a lot of potential. A Co Antrim village has completely transformed a derelict red phone box into a cosy mini library for the community to enjoy.
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