This is the kind of community initiative that this blog wants more of….
From the BBC by Phil Harrison, 6 October 2026
Free books for 150 red phone box libraries are being made available to celebrate 100 years of two British legends – Winnie-the-Pooh and the K2 red phone box.
For more details go to the BBC source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm4g1v882250o
I picked up this volume recently:
And this creation is very appealing – caffeine and dial:
Emine Saner, The Guardian, Tue 30 Dec 2025
When BT earmarked the kiosk for closure in January, Derek Harris began to campaign. The fight gave him purpose at a difficult time in his life
The caller display flashes up: “Derek in the K6” it reads. On the line is Derek Harris, ringing from the red phone box he saved for his village. When he saw, on the agenda for the parish council meeting, that BT had earmarked it for closure, Harris knew he had to fight it. “It’s fighting for what is valuable, cherished,” he told me when I went to meet him in February, sitting over coffee in a cafe near Sharrington, the Norfolk village that has been his home for more than 50 years, and the phone box for longer. It’s a K6, for Kiosk No 6, designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
For a few weeks, Harris, then 89, became a media star. One of the criteria for keeping a phone box in use is that at least 52 calls have to be made from it in a year (fewer than 10 had been made in 2024). As the campaign picked up speed, one day a queue of people made more than 230 calls from the K6. Harris sparked a national conversation about the continuing need for kiosks in an age of mobiles. Behind the scenes, he was a tenacious activist, sending constant emails to his MP, councillors, and of course, BT. Some of them included photographs he had taken of BT vans whose engineers were working nearby, as proof the phone box could be easily maintained. In March, BT decided to reverse its decision.
For the full article please go to the Guardian:
From The Guardian, Oliver Basciano, 20 Oct 2025
Now 600 strong, the Artist Membership Project is helping young artists see exhibitions while dodging hefty entry fees at top British institutions. We meet the founder of the scheme.
On a railing, not far from Tate Modern, is a lockbox. Enter a code and inside is a membership card to the museum, enabling free access to its temporary exhibitions. You get your ticket, you return the card.
The Artist Membership Project, much to the ire of the city’s arts institutions, has been operating for three months with more than 600 members, mostly artists and recent graduates. Curator Ben Broome, who describes the guerrilla initiative as “part mutual aid project, part artwork”, estimates that those signed up have saved thousands of pounds in museum entry fees.
For the full article please go to The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/oct/20/clandestine-guerrilla-scheme-letting-skint-artists-mass-share-gallery-membership-cards
If you originally posted any of the images taken from social media posts and wish me to remove them, please just ask. I will comply. Don’t be a dick and threaten legal action.
From the BBC, 12 August 2012
Luke Campbell: Hull honours Olympics boxing gold medallist
A Hull post box and a telephone kiosk have been painted gold to honour Olympic boxing champion Luke Campbell.
The 24-year-old beat the Republic of Ireland’s John Joe Nevin in the bantamweight final on Saturday to win the gold medal. KC, which runs the city’s telephone network, has painted the kiosk nearest to his boxing club gold in his honour. Royal Mail has painted a post box near the fighter’s Hessle Road home, as well as issuing a commemorative stamp.
For the full article please go to the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19232488
A man abandoned as a baby in a phone booth 64 years ago is about to meet his birth mother…
Read the full article on the Daily Mail – https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-6079245/Man-abandoned-baby-phone-booth-meet-mother-taking-ancestry-DNA-kit.html
By Mary Harris, 10 Jun 2025
A tractor hitting a telephone box in a village near Maidstone left customers briefly without power. Kent Police was called to near Mereworth at 1.10pm on Monday (June 9) after the incident…
For the full article please go to Kent News: https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/residents-left-briefly-without-power-10253585
From Dezeen: workplace furniture company Room has created a single-person acoustic pod that provides solo workspaces in open-plan offices. The first product designed in Room’s catalogue, The Phone Booth is characterised by its trio of sound-dampening material layers that work together to reduce noise by 30 decibels, according to the brand.
The booth is clad in sound-blocking MDF and lined with sound-absorbing PET felt made from recycled plastic bottles. 100 per cent natural wool finishes also help to control noise levels. There is an LED light mounted in the ceiling along with two ultra-quiet fans that keep the air inside clean. Both the light and fans are controlled by a smart sensor.
The booth is delivered flat-packed and can be assembled in an hour by two people using only one tool, and it can also be moved between locations easily once assembled given its flexible design. The Phone Booth comes in two colourways, light and dark, and punctuated with oak accents.