13 May Communities turn iconic red phone boxes ‘blue’ to thank the NHS
BT is encouraging community groups across the East of England to seize the opportunity to do something wonderful with their iconic red phone boxes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Communities across the country have been thinking innovatively to transform red phone boxes for good, from community food stores to illuminating the red kiosks blue as a tribute to the NHS. Already, more than 6,000 phone boxes have been adopted by communities since BT set up its ‘Adopt a Kiosk’ scheme in 2008.
BT is encouraging community groups to seize the opportunity to do something wonderful with phone boxes that have little or no usage. More than 300 traditional red boxes are currently available for adoption in the East of England, for just £1 each, and BT will also consider adoption requests to house defibrillators in more modern boxes.
The company has seen some amazing transformations across the UK during the coronavirus pandemic. The company has seen some amazing transformations across the country during the coronavirus pandemic.
A phone Box in Upton, near Peterborough, has been lit up in blue to pay tribute to the NHS.
Sam Burton, Upton Community Council, commented: “We recently adopted a BT red phone box and have been working with the Community Heartbeat Trust to get a defibrillator installed for our local community. I came up with the idea to light up the phone box in blue for the NHS after seeing local people lighting up their houses. The blue lit phone box is a tribute of thanks to the NHS from our village.”
The Driven Forward Charity in Windsor, has turned a phone box into a donation point for items for the local foodbank during the coronavirus pandemic. Donors can drop off non-perishable food goods through the removed panel. Once a week volunteers then pick the items up and deliver them to Windsor Foodshare.
Tiia Stephens, Driven Forward Charity, said: “We saw that the local Windsor Foodbank put out a plea on social media, as they were struggling with an increased number of families and adults to support, with donations reduced. We recently adopted a BT phone box with the intention to use it as a drop off point for donations for the homeless that our charity supports locally. We thought this would be a great opportunity to support another local charity in need during these tough times, so we turned the phone box into a place for much needed donations for the Windsor Food bank.”
BT will continue to provide electricity (if already in place) to power the light for adopted phone boxes, free of charge. Where electricity is available, adopted boxes can be used as housings for defibrillators – an increasingly popular and potentially life-saving conversion.
