RED TELEPHONE BOXES

Following the removal of the phone booth adjacent to The Roebuck Inn during 2009, Ken Moss started investigating ways in which the remaining two red telephone boxes in Rishton could be preserved. Options open to borough councils involve either sponsoring the boxes to keep them in service and paying maintenance fees to British Telecom or adopting the boxes for a nominal fee of £1 each and having the telephone mechanisms removed.

It has recently been revealed that the box at Cut Lane was identified in 2008 as one that could be removed and that the remaining booth at the corner of Harwood Road is scheduled for rationalisation this year. Cllrs Harry Grayson and Ken Moss have therefore approved adopting the boxes for a nominal cost in order to preserve these iconic pieces of street furniture. Both are in need of some refurbishment which would probably involve simple repainting rather than full maintenance of the glazing due to problems in the past with vandalism.