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Phone Box Library

The phone box on the green is but one of a few in the country painted an appropriate green and was handed over to the Parish Council in 2016 when it was adopted by them for the agreed fee of £1.00. With the demise of the mobile library, Cllrs Marsha White and Ruth Chip-Marshall had the perfect idea of turning it into a library for the villagers for which it has been extremely successful.

This is a K6 kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (designer of Battersea and Bankside Power Stations, the latter now the Tate Modern) , probably put in place sometime after 1949 when the Royal Fine Arts Commission were allowing rural examples to be painted in different colours. Kiosks have emerged painted in colours such as this green and a battleship grey. 

From1926 the kiosk's fascias were emblazoned with a prominent crown, representing the British government (of which the Post Office was then an agency). Our box sports the Tudor Crown which was in use from 1936 until 1953 at which time Queen Elizabeth II decided to change it to the St Edwards Crown being the actual crown used by British Monarchs.

Disaster struck in 2011 when BT decided our beloved box was due for its five yearly refurb. When the village awoke one morning they were all completely aghast, BT had already prepared it in an extremely inappropriate red undercoat, ready to be painted in their obligatory brilliant Post Office RED! Fortunately this was very quickly jumped on and over-ruled by the Parish Council, BT subsequently relinquished, returnng it to its former glory - much to the relief of the village. 

Marsha is convinced they had been running low on their BT green. Looking back in the Parish records, apparently they have attempted the same stunt each and every five years prior!

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Is anyone able to throw any light on this article from the Dorset Echo June 1982?

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