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Deeping phone box saved from extinction
Lillian Capano, 7, Daniel Shamma, 10 and (right), Nadia Shamma, 7, with the new information kiosk, complete with mosaic floor. (METP-07-07-10PF011) Picture: Paul Franks
AN iconic red phone box has become the hub of village life after Deeping St James residents rescued it from neglect and turned it into a mini-museum and information kiosk.
Ingenious villagers could not bear to see their beloved phone box go after it was made redundant by British Telecom (BT).
So they came up with a plan to put it at the heart of village life.
After buying the payphone booth for a token £1 – under BT’s Adopt a Kiosk scheme – they decided to convert it into a an information point and village archive to give it a new calling.
As well as being stocked with useful items, such as maps and telephone numbers of local services, it has also been given an internal makeover, thanks to creative pupils at Deeping St James Community Primary School who made a mosaic for the floor.
Deeping St James parish councillor Judy Stevens said the community jumped at the chance to adopt the phone box, in Church Street.
She said: ”To secure for the future such an iconic building at the heart of the village was too good an opportunity to miss.
“In time for the judging of the East Midlands in Bloom competition, the parish council set about re-painting the kiosk with the help of the Community Payback team.
“Then two notice boards were fitted inside and Cllr Chris Pearce filled the box up with maps and handy telephone numbers that would make this information point a definite ‘need-to-use’ for villagers.
“With photographic images of the village added, the kiosk was then completed with a mosaic designed and made by children.”
The school held a competition for the design of the mosaic and the winner was pupil Lilly Capano.
The parish council now intends to invite local societies to display their own images and information in the kiosk so that it develops as a mini museum. There is already an autumn display planned with the local Civic Society and Deepings Heritage.
Although mobile phones have rendered public payphones almost obsolete, the distinctive red phone boxes still hold a special place in people’s hearts.
The kiosk has become a British icon that some companies have started producing flat pack replicas of. They have been snapped up by offices, bars, restaurants and some are even converted into shower cubicles.
There are more than 12,500 red telephone boxes across the country.
The first incarnation of the red phone box was designed by architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for a competition in 1924. This design, the K2, was introduced in 1926, predominately in London. Ten years later, Scott refined his design and the famous K6 or ‘Jubilee Kiosk’ was introduced nationwide to celebrate George V’s Silver Jubilee.
In August 2008, BT launched two new schemes - Adopt A Kiosk, which allows a community to retain their red phone box, minus the payphone - and Sponsor A Kiosk, where the community contributes towards the maintenance costs to retain the phone box and a working payphone.
By last November, BT had received 770 applications for communities to ‘Adopt A Kiosk’ and, so far, 350 boxes have been handed over to parish councils.
Other boxes that have been given a new lease of life
IN November 2009, a traditional red phone box was turned into one of the country’s smallest lending libraries - stocking 100 books.
Villagers from Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset can use the library around the clock to borrow books, DVDs and CDs.
A resident dreamed up the idea when the village lost its phone box and mobile library.
Other kiosks have been converted to be used as shower cubicles in homes.
While in Kingston upon Thames, several boxes form a work of art resembling a row of fallen dominoes.
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