People in a tiny Fife village have created the region’s smallest community centre – in an old red phone box.
Villagers in Blebo Craigs bought the box from BT for just £1, then transformed it in a bid to keep community spirit alive during lockdown.
And it has proved so popular it is still being used as a hub for locals even as Covid restrictions have eased.
Art exhibitions, a book sale and a flower show are among the events held in the iconic Gilbert Scott-designed box in the last year.
Christmas decorations, Easter bunnies and balloons to celebrate a sixth birthday have also filled the space.
Lesley Connell, chairwoman of Blebo Craigs village hall, said the community loved the idea.
“The Blebo Craigs phone box has effectively become our village hall,” she said.
“We bought it from BT at the beginning of last year for £1.
“The community council was asked if they wanted it but it made more sense for us to take it on.”
From face masks to bread-making
After a few repairs and a paint job, the village hall committee decided the box should become a focal point while the hall was closed.
And one of the first things they did was make face masks to sell to villagers from the phone box.
“We’ve had lots and lots of different things,” said Lesley.
“One of our locals, Chris Reekie, takes wonderful photos so we’ve had birds of Blebo, flowers of Blebo and at the moment it’s gardens of Blebo.
“We had decorations up for Christmas and someone filled it with bunting and balloons for a little girl’s birthday.”
A phone box book sale raised £100 towards the upkeep of the hall and, more unusually, a local made a batch of sourdough bread to sell.
“We do an annual craft fair in the hall but obviously we couldn’t do that this year so we took over the phone box for a week,” Lesley said.
“We also did tartan art – we used to have a lot of tartan curtains in the hall so I cut them up and 20 people took a piece away.
“At our flower and produce show in September we’ll have a competition to see who did the tartan best.”
Most of the decorating ideas have come from village hall committee members Vanessa Colquhoun and Christine Hulbert.
“We have an honesty box and most of the money raised goes towards hall funds,” added Lesley.
“We’ve not been able to do much in the hall in the last year because of restrictions.
“But the phone box has been fun and people have really got into the spirit of it.
“It’s really kept us all going.”
Fife’s smallest art gallery squeezes into an old telephone box near St Andrews