King Charles coronation: Dorset phone box transformed into golden coach
- Published
The coach has been created over the village phone box in Churchwell Street
A red phone box in a Dorset village has been given a royal makeover to transform it into a golden coach to celebrate the coronation.
Run by a "telephone box team", the disused box in Bradford Abbas, is used by residents to swap books and jigsaws.
Jenny Thomas, from the group, said she came up with the idea to "conjure up a sense of joy for our residents".
It has been built so 'passengers' can still open the door to board the coach with the King and Queen Consort.
The 8ft (2.4 metre) x 12ft (3.6m) carriage, which took three months to build, was designed and created by Squish Harris, along with the village's telephone box team.
The gleaming coach has been adorned with unicorns, swags and scallop shells
The hardest part was "using school maths and a wooden kebab stick with a piece of string sellotaped to a pencil" to scale up her sketch onto large sheets of plywood, she said.
She added plenty of "odd things" were used to create the coach.
Its hubcaps are made from paper bowls, while pipe insulation forms the tyres and the paintings on the doors are made of wrapping paper.
It also features golden ribbon wrapped around thick piping cord and papier mache unicorns.
The carriage took three months to build
"Its golden leaves are Christmas decorations and the scallop shells have been donated by Jenny's grandson," Ms Harris said.
The group hope people will have their photos taken looking out of the middle windows between their King and Queen Consort.
Ms Thomas said: "We hope that this brings the community together to celebrate the coronation."
The coach is expected to stay in place in Churchwell Street, in the centre of the village, until the middle of May.
The coronation is being held at Westminster Abbey on 6 May
The King, who will be crowned along with Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be the 40th reigning monarch crowned there since 1066.
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