Adopt a phone box – it only costs £1

Last week we reported how BT have announced plans to scrap up to 50 payphones around Ashford borough. With virtually everyone now owning a mobile phone (even primary school children) the phone company says it is has written to local authorities across Kent proposing the removal of about 430 underused payphones across the county, 50 of them in the Ashford and Tenterden areas and surrounding villages.

The number of people using these phones has dropped by more than 90% in the last decade, as most of us now have mobiles.

BT says if it received an objections from the local authority a threatened payphone will not be removed, allowing councils or parish councils to use BT’s Adopt a Kiosk scheme to maintain any payphones that remain.

Under the scheme communities are also able to take control of their own traditional red “heritage” phone box and transform them into a community asset for just £1

We’ve previously carried stories about redundant phone boxes becoming libraries, art galleries and locations for lifesaving defibrillators.

But we’d like to hear of any other possible uses for such call boxes. Send us your suggestions to kentishexpress@thekmgroup. co.uk

For more information on how to adopt a payphone visit business.bt.com/phoneservices/payphone-services/ adopt-a-kiosk.

It may have passed you by but a very unusual thing happened above the skies of Ashford on Saturday evening.

The grand coupling of the Moon and Venus, which took place at dusk and early evening, was witnessed and photographed for us by regular Nuts and Bolts contributor Ted Prangnell.

The Moon and Venus rank as the second-brightest and third-brightest celestial bodies, respectively, after the sun.

A clear night sky meant people living in the south east were easily able to spot the planet while others reported even glimpsing Mars.

Venus is 144 million miles from earth and although the . moon and Venus appear to be near in the sky, the planet is actually 270 times more distant than the Moon.

Venus is 7,500 miles in diameter, making it almost as large as earth.

It is often seen during the winter months on a clear night and is sometimes known as the evening star.

Ted Prangnell’s photograph of the Moon and Venus together above Ashford