Phone Box
Above image made by Gary Beaumont who lives in the village - Many thanks Gary!!!
19th May
I'm pleased to say the Parish Council have looked over my proposal and have now met and agreed the phone box can be used as... well a phone box!!
I must say there seemed to be a bit of a mis understanding and confussion in what I was trying to say (in my excitement!!) as I mentioned the Parish Council was excited by the idea, what I actually meant was I had an informal chat with some Parish Council members who were excited by the idea (NOT the parish council as a whole) as until monday they had not met to discuss the proposal as a democracy which is a vital point. Anyway, I'm so pleased they are collectivly happy with it and offer my thanks to them that they want to push this forward and of course sorry they mis took what I was trying to say, this sort of thing has to have a process to ensure it is handled correctly which they have of course followed.
So now the work starts, I understand the Parish council is writing to me to advise of any conditions such as insurance and electricity but more to come on that when I get the letter.
I've had so many offers of help from jet washing to painting, thank you all SO MUCH! Your help will bring it back to the iconic structure it was designed to be.
The actual phone has arrived and I am so pleased with it as this is a commercial payphone and built to last, we now have to work out call charges as the longest call I can program is 999 seconds (about 20 mins) but thinking along the lines of 20p for 20 mins... anywhere in the world? cheaper than any landline or mobile!
I do have to make this clear that the Parish Council is not paying anything towards this project, so this is NOT funded out of your Taxes, this is being funded personally by myself and Northlew Broadband (which is not public funds) So you will in the next month or so get a brand new service that hasn't cost the village anything which is great news for all of us.
Anyway, lots to do and a BIG thanks once again to the Parish Council, yet again they are working hard to ensure this village is a better place for all of us.
Chris
________
May
Since starting the broadband project, I thought it a good idea to bring back services taken away from us - now broadband is on and on the whole working we can now look at other projects.
I have put a proposal to the Parish Council and also the other Directors of Northlew Broadband along with asking the opinion of some villagers as if they think it is a good idea to have this service... all seem to agree that a service is needed/required.
This phone box was made in the 1930's and is a historic part of Northlew. The Parish council rightly adopted this phone box last year to keep it within the village, safe from some collector keeping it in their own garden or worse rotting in a scrap yard. However, over the period of just 1 year, the phone box has become a bit of an eyesore and a sorry state with paint peeling off the sides, the light failing, hundreds of dead flies (crunchy floor!) and alas there has been reports of some of the youth of the village urinating in it! While they might find this funny, this has resulted in accute damage to some of the metal and of course the flies and stench that has meant one of the locals propping the door open to fumigate it. Anyone caught urinating in this box will be reported to the police....seriously... is having a wee really worth a fixed fine and a criminal record? when there is a 24 hour toilet just opposite? You have been warned.
I sent a proposal to the Parish Council asking for their agreement to the re-commisioning which they are reviewing and are quite excited by. I have also spoken to BT business who have acknowledged we will be the first community in the UK to do this.. another Northlew first! and can give us some fantastic call rates. I have also secured a deal with a payphone supplier who will supply an industrial armoured payphone for just £120 (usual price is around £500!)
Once we have an agreement we can do this we can have the service in and working within 2 weeks.. however... The phone box itself is in such a state it is unusable. to bring it back to it's former glory we need to do the following:
Pressure wash inside and out
Sand down the flaking multi-layers red paint and red oxide
Sand down the flaking multi-layers white roof paint
Repaint both using postbox red and brilliant white.
Replace yellow perspex windows with toughened glass
Repair broken interior light
Repaint crown in Gold
Repaint frame in black
Repaint base in black
Remove and clean black backing plate and repair
Install charge posters and information board
Order new BT line
Install new payphone
Work out tariffs
While this sounds a lot this is totally do'able, if anyone wants to help bring this bit of history back to life... PLEASE GET IN TOUCH... I am still busy with broadband and installs, repairs etc but have a little time to do the refit but a few of us doing it would get this done before summer.
As a start, does anyone have a pressure washer we could use to at least clean it and get rid of the rancid smell? If so again, please get in touch.
Another exciting project from all of us at Northlew Community Broadband
Chris
PICS TO COME!