Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
DDC PRESS RELEASE ****
COUNCIL RESPONDS TO BT PROPOSALS
Following close partnership working and feedback from Town and Parish Councils, Dover District Council has responded to a BT consultation, and objected to the removal of 18 telephone boxes across the district. This includes objections to the removal of nine red phone boxes on grounds including heritage and service to the community. BT is proposing to remove 21 phone boxes in the district. Dover District Council has considered all comments from Town and Parish Councils against Ofcom's criteria of location/housing, mobile reception and number of calls made at each phone box.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Where once we took those old red phone boxes for granted bigtime...now of course we dont, we see them as a piece of our joyous history, fond memories from memory lane, and now suddenly we all feel we want to hold on to them and quite right too. Its good to see DDC pursuing this ideal. Hopefully all can be saved.
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
Sadly the main usage of the red boxes these days is as a urinal. The one nearest to me even had a "pile" in it a few weeks ago. Nevertheless it would be sad to see them go. A certain chap called Graham Wanstall (prolific newspaper letter writer, suprised he's never shown up on here) wants to be buried in one. Now, if they are taken away they could find a use for a few councillors!
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Here's a link to a site which will tell you everything you need to know about Red Phone Boxes and their history and demise.
http://www.redphonebox.info/phonebox.htm
what a sad sod I am......
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 659- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 331
To see a twist in the red phone box saga for Dover go to
www.thisiskent.co.uk and click on the Dover link. The web site has had an overhaul so hopefully people will find it easier on the eye although I am a web page building novice so there's not too much clever stuff on the Dover page yet!!
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
OH it would be sad to lose the red phone box would the red pillar box be next
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
Have just been out and taken a photo of the red phone box at the end of my road, just in case it disappears overnight!
I expect most people have seen this one, it is by the gatehouse to Victoria Park, just below the lower entrance to the Castle. It was a private road with gates across the end when Victoria Park was constructed in 1865.
Hopefully this one will be pretty safe as a lot of tourists pass by on their way up to the Castle and with a bit of luck some of them use it!
What a charming picture. It reminds me that there are some things worth the struggle just because...........
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
ed
when you say that people "use it", i hope that you mean by that, to make telephonic communication.
on a serious note, i think that the gatehouse together with the urinal, sorry phone box, give a very good impression of england, when visitors make their way to the castle.
a hearty well done to the people at DDC who are putting up a fight.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
"on a serious note, i think that the gatehouse together with the urinal, sorry phone box, give a very good impression of england, when visitors make their way to the castle."
It certainly does, most days I see people there posing for a photo by it
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Wow! that's a lovely picture Ed.Well done with getting it up ... no fuss easy peasy. You know I dont think Ive ever noticed that architectural gem and I live quite close to you. You make quite a case for the red phone boxes with that shot..Im sure the DDC will see it.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
The item is on BBC teletext news.Dover struggles to retain its red phone boxes or something to that effect.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Good Photo Ed. I remember that box well from my time in Victoria Park, mostly from chasing BT to install my own phone. Would be a shame to see them go but I always remember them as costing 2d and having buttons a and B. Used to be a good way of collecting change.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
We lost the fight to keep our Red Telephone Box outside of River post office severasl years ago.We have managed to keep the one in Lower Road.
We also lost the phone box by The Cricketers.
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
We lost the fight to keep our Red Telephone Box outside of River post office severasl years ago.We have managed to keep the one in Lower Road.
We also lost the phone box by The Cricketers.
Guest 641- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,335
I think that every hamlet/village/town should have at least one old red telephone box & a pillar box, if only for historic/tourist purposes maybe with a recorded message on it, if BT say that it is not cost effective. A volunteer could keep it clean etc, now there's a job 'Ye Upkeeper and Cleanser of ye olde red speech apparatus'
I remember the days when as a kid my mates & I would collect alot of loose change by pressing button B & getting someone else's money back
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
Disappearing phone boxes? Sounds as if The Doctor may have something to do with this.
Seriously, it would be a pity if they all went. Even today not everyone has a mobile phone or even a landline. There really shuld be a requirement for one phone box for a given area in case of emergencies and to allow those who do not have any other phone outside contact.
That red phonebox by the entrance to the castle is beautiful. A really enchanting picture.
Let's hope against hope that the aesthetically-challenged, hard-of-thinking drones-that-be don't remove it out of sheer bloody-minded perversity.
On a different tangent, DAFC are at Hornchurch tomorrow, and at Crabble against Margate on Monday...everybody get up to Dover's Theatre of Dreams and cheer the boys on!
DAFC - an all-too-rare, genuine and precious good news story for dear old Dubris. Savour it and enjoy it!
Regards all,
Andy
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
The original photo I posted above of the red telephone box at Victoria Park has obviously expired to save forum memory. When I posted it, I had no idea that the phone box had actually been designated for removal but saved by Graham Wanstall through his "Save the K6 Telephone Kiosk" campaign.
However, I have just come across this article in last week's Dover Mercury which says that Mr. Wanstall's victories include the Castle Hill phone box in Dover! Hope it is alright to copy it to the forum.
This is the view which tourists get of the phone box, the lower entrance to the Castle is at top right of photo. This would have been a sad loss of a picturesque feature and Graham Wanstall is to be congratulated on ensuring its preservation for all to enjoy.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
That's great news it's been saved, it looks so lovely in that location. I do love those old red phone boxes.
