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Jul
Ripley red phone box repurposed as village book swap
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The old red phone box in Ripley made its last call seven years ago, but it’s now been given a new lease of life – as a book exchange.
Following its decommissioning in 2018, the phone box had fallen into disrepair, so Ripley Parish Council made the decision to adopt it.
With the help of a £5,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, it's been refurbished and turned it into a community resource.
Mary-Ann Garner, clerk for the parish council, told the Stray Ferret:
There was another idea – to turn it into a visitor information point, with cycle route maps and leaflets – but we wanted something that would benefit local people more.
One of the parish councillors, Mel Braithwaite Sturdy, suggested the idea of a book swap and spearheaded the project.
There are few other book swaps in the local area – Sawley has a really nice one, so we took advice from them as to how to go about it.
The phone box was repaired and repainted.
But before the phone box could receive any books, it needed to be made weatherproof. It was no longer watertight, the door wouldn’t shut properly, and some of the glass panels were broken.
Withe help of the lottery funding, the parish council hired Hull-based contractor L Carr, which specialises in phone box restorations.
The phone box was sealed along the bottom, the roof was fixed, the glass repaired, and new hinges put on the door. The shelving was made by local man Jos Ingilby.
The children's books are on the lower shelves.
Following a call in the village for books, the book swap now has more than 300 titles to choose from.
Ms Garner said:
The bottom two shelves are children’s books, including early readers and picture books, and the rest is fiction, non-fiction, cookery, history – it's a bit of a mix of everything, with no particular theme.
You can borrow books, as you would from a library, or you can bring a book of your own and swap it. You don’t need to be a member or have a card.
The location is just across the road from the primary school, so we asked if they wanted to be involved. The children can choose a book at school pick-up time, and their parents can get involved too, so it feels like a real asset for the community.
Anyone wanting to donate books should email the parish council at clerk.ripleypc@gmail.com.
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