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| High Hutton Telephone Kiosk Refurbished (click to enlarge) |
All over the country telephone kiosks are disappearing because BT says they are no longer cost effective to run. Two years ago the Parish Council learnt that the telephone kiosks in High and Low Hutton were not paying their way and could be removed by BT unless they were adopted by the council. Adoption means that the telephone equipment is removed so the kiosk can no longer be used for calls but at least the kiosk itself is preserved as part of the visual amenity of the village.
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| Now a Freecycle Centre (click to enlarge) |
The Parish Council undertook a public consultation and as a result the High Hutton kiosk was purchased by the council under the 'Adopt A Kiosk' scheme. BT has now removed the telephone equipment and, with the aid of a grant from the Ryedale
Small Scale Enhancements Scheme, a decorator was engaged to repaint the kiosk. High Hutton residents Andy Dorman and Jem Charles completed the refurbishment by replacing the glass, tiling the floor and installing shelves. The telephone kiosk now starts a new life as a Freecycle Centre, initially for the exchange of books and magazines.
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| Freecycle - How To Do It (click to enlarge) |
So come along to the High Hutton telephone kiosk and browse what's there. If anything takes your fancy, swap it for some of your own surplus books or magazines.
The book/magazine freecycling progamme is a trial, in the future we hope to try freecycling for toys, bric-a-brac or even plants. Other possibilities include mini exhibitions of photographs, pictures or items of local historical interest.
If you have any suggestions for future use of the High Hutton telephone kiosk, please post comments on this blog or contact your local parish councillors.
What about the future of the Low Hutton kiosk?
The consultation exercise showed there was no interest in Low Hutton in retaining the box, however Ryedale District Council objected to its removal and so the kiosk remains in place as a functioning telephone kiosk, maintained by BT.
All material © Philip Stone 2011
