Britain’s iconic red phone boxes have become obsolete in the age of the mobile — but villages across the country are stepping in to save them, with creative flair.
Whether as a place to exhibit art, poetry, or even as a tiny library, hundreds of kiosks have been given a new lease of life by local communities determined to preserve a quintessential part of British life.
In Waterperry, a small village near Oxford, the 120 residents have filled the phone box next to the old manor house with a pot of hyacinths, piles of gardening and cooking magazines, and plastered poems on the walls.
They took control of the kiosk when telecom operator BT said it was going to pull it down, an announcement that sparked such uproar that one local woman threatened to chain herself to the box to save it.
“I’d have done it,” insisted Kendall Turner. “It would have been heartbreaking for the village.”
Local councillor Tricia Hallam, who came up with the idea for the phone box’s makeover, said “quite a few people” would have joined her, adding: “We couldn’t let it go because it’s a landmark, it’s part of our heritage.
“We need to keep it here, it’s an iconic thing, a British icon.”
Only 90cm by 90cm wide, and standing 2.52m tall, the kiosks were designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1936 for the 25th anniversary of the reign of King George V.
But with the price of running the kiosks costing BT £44 million per year, the company set up an “adopt a kiosk” scheme which has so far seen over 1,000 kiosks taken over by local communities.
In the village of Westbury-sub-Mendip, in the southwestern county of Somerset, the kiosk has been converted into the world’s smallest library. Parish councillor Bob Dolby says, “In this way the kiosk, which has served the community well for many years, will continue to serve it for years to come.”
(AFP)
英國極具代表性的紅色電話亭，在世界進入行動電話時代後已顯過時。但英國各地村民靈機一動，發揮創意拯救這些具代表性的電話亭。
無論是用來展示藝術品、詩詞，甚至做為小型圖書館，這數以百計的電話亭被賦予了新生命。地方上大小社區居民決心保存這代表英倫生活經典的一面。
在牛津郡附近的沃特佩里鎮，一百二十名居民在鄰近一座老莊園的電話亭裡放了一盆風信子、幾本園藝書與烹飪雜誌，還在牆上貼了幾首詩。
當地村民從英國電信公司手中搶救回這座險遭拆除的電話亭。當他們得知電信公司要拆電話亭時相當反彈，有位婦女為了保衛電話亭，揚言要跟它綁在一起同歸於盡。
肯達爾•透納強調說：「換成是我的話，我也會這樣做。拆除電話亭會令村民們難過。」
想到這個改造電話亭方法的當地議員翠莎•哈拉姆表示，會「有不少人」加入這項活動，因為「我們不能讓它就這樣消失，它是我們的地標，是歷史遺產之一。」
「我們要保留電話亭，它儼然是英國形象的代表。」
這種電話亭是一九三六年吉爾斯•吉伯特•斯考特為紀念英國國王喬治五世登基二十五週年所設計。電話亭長寬各九十公分，高二點五二公尺。
由於電話亭每年維護經費高達四千四百萬英鎊，英國電信公司便發起「認養電話亭」計畫。如今已有一千多個電話亭被地方社區認養。
桑莫塞郡西南方的韋斯特伯里─門迪普村裡，有個電話亭變身成為全世界最小的圖書館。當地議員巴伯•杜比表示：「如此一來，已為服務大家多年的電話亭就能繼續為我們效力了。」
（法新社╱翻譯：吳岱璟）
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