WHILE pottering around the beautiful village of Rottingdean recently, I spotted a phone box that had been converted into a little library.

The deal is that you can take a book and then give one back to replace it so that the library remains stocked up.

I thought this was a wonderful example of re-use both for the phone box and the books. I am glad that our lovely old red phone boxes can be repurposed rather than be removed and stored in an old yard. What a waste.

I recall spotting such a collection along the east side of the railway on my journey to London in the days when I used to commute. I can’t recall exactly where now, but hopefully someone reading this article will remember and maybe we can release hundreds of red phone boxes back into the wild as a result.

I posted the phone box library on my Facebook page and got a few comments. There was of course, the obvious joker, who said I should get one and have a party – who needs enemies with Facebook friends like that? Skipping on, there was some interest expressed by the Bedford Square Garden Project.

There are two phone boxes next to one another on the square, I guess from the days when people had to queue to use a payphone and one was never enough. I am old enough to remember my dad going out with a handful of change once a week to phone his parents and taking a gamble on which phone box to head for, so a pair of phone boxes makes perfect sense to me.

Anyway, one of these phone boxes is permanently locked while BT says the other is in use as an essential service.

I think it is in use although not for the kind of services BT imagines and behaviour that understandably residents are getting a bit fed up with.

They are interested in turning the phone boxes into something attractive and useful for the local community. They invited me down, so I popped along on Wednesday to take a look and have a chat.

What we have found out so far is that BT run an “Adopt a Kiosk” scheme where the older boxes can be adopted for community use. More than 5,000 communities have done so.

The Community Heartbeat Trust has installed defibrillators in disused phone boxes across the country. In Cheltenham, ten red phone boxes have been transformed into miniature art galleries, showcasing the work of local artists.

Adoption costs just £1 per box, with the adopter essentially taking ownership of and liability for the box (minus the telephony equipment). The boxes can only be adopted by a charity or by a council.

Clearly the council will not want to increase its liabilities right now as it is already facing a huge funding gap, so officers are now working on how any financial burden can be managed. Meanwhile, I have written to Rottingdean Parish Council to get the benefit of their experience.

I am really pleased at the “can do” approach that council officers have taken to this and if Bedford Square are successful, they could well set the template for future adopters around the city.

Casting your mind back a year, you may have been one of the many generous souls who contributed to the Brighton Community Workshop Project which crowdfunded more than £4,000 in less than a month. The idea is to combine a tool library with a community space in Brighton where traditional crafts can be practised, learnt, and taught.

Edinburgh has a tool library where you can borrow from thousands of tools. Things like drills, sanders and steamers. After all. why would you go to the expense of buying them for only occasional use and who has the space to store all this stuff anyway?

According to the Office of National Statistics, the average cordless electric drill is used for just 13 minutes during its lifetime, yet most households own one and spend an average of £110 per year on DIY tools.

To get Brighton Community Workshop off the ground, it needs space for storage – a dry lock up or garage. I hear on the grapevine that one of the founder members is about to set up camp in his garden because his house is now so full of donated tools.

Then we need workshop space – maybe that could be shared by an organisation currently not using all the space they have or who could accommodate some occasional use to help get the project established. The website is up but I hear that a little more tech expertise would be warmly welcomed. And last, but most importantly, the members – it is a fiver to become a founder member. The form and bank details are online. Please do join. I have.

This project ticks all the boxes by sharing resources and giving people the skills to repair and repurpose.