A NUMBER of old red telephone kiosks have been brought back into use is locations in Conwy and put to imaginative new uses.

The kiosks were designed by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, and were a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar.

They were voted one of Britain's top 10 design icons, which include the Mini, Supermarine Spitfire, the London tube map, the World Wide Web, Concorde and the London Routemaster bus.

Several have become homes for defibrillators available for cardiac arrest emergencies. One on Conwy Quay was installed by the Community Heartbeat Trust.

Martin Fagan, National Secretary of the Community Heartbeat Trust charity, said: “We are delighted to have been working with BT to retain and convert these historic red kiosks throughout Wales and the rest of the UK.

“We were the first to approach BT many years ago, and have to date converted around 1,000 kiosks both old and new. Kiosks are great locations for defibrillators, as they are at the heart of communities, and saving a life is time dependent. Hence an easily recognisable location, such as a red kiosk is both recognisable, and saves lives.”

Another has been installed by Trefriw community council. Mrs Kim Ellis chairman of the council said: “The red telephone box is located in Llanrhychwyn and was acquired some years ago. It contains a defibrillator and is also used as a community book store with both English and Welsh language books, which people can take, return and leave other books. It is looked after by the local community and has been a great success.

“When the red boxes were taken away people missed them and are only too happy to see one come back.”

Further along the Conwy Valley, in Betwys-y-Coed, the community council was able to purchase the red kiosk from BT for a £1. A spokesman for the council said: “For what it cost it seemed to be an ideal opportunity to retain an important feature of the past in a rural locality.

“Given the covid restrictions the council has not been able to proceed with the placing maps and other local information in the kiosk, which will be of use to people visiting Betws-y-Coed.”

In Llanellian, high on the hill overlooking Old Colwyn, one of the old kiosks has been put to a number of different uses. Mrs Jane Williams, who lives in the village said: “The original red telephone box was replaced with a modern one some years ago. That in turn was declared redundant. We as villagers thought as we live in such a pretty village, we needed a proper red telephone box.

“We use it as a free library to swap books, for people to put spare vegetables and fruit from their gardens for others to take and similarly craft items. We also keep a defibrillator in it.

“The money collected from contributions for the fruit and vegetables goes to charities and to help fund Christmas parties for the children and older people in the village.

“It has helped build our strong community spirit in the village.”