Lancashire village's phone box saved in tribute to resident

Eric Dewhurst was not a fan of mobile phones

A decommissioned phone box will remain in a village to honour a resident who relied on it for most of his life.

Eric Dewhurst used the red phone box on Pompian Brow in Bretherton as his only way of keeping in touch with family and friends beyond the Lancashire village.

The 76-year-old, who refused to have a landline or mobile phone, died in 2019.

"That was just Eric," said his niece Carole Wilson. "He was a real character - he even used to arrange for people to ring him there."

Her father - Eric's late brother, Bill - also regularly received calls from the phone box in the village near Chorley.

Carole's sister Elaine Drelincourt said the whole family had tried and failed to tempt Eric into a world of communication without coins.

"We did buy him a mobile once, but he wasn't interested, he didn't even try it," she said.

"My dad was the one person who could usually persuade him to do things - but even he couldn't get him to have a phone in the house.

"He didn't really like innovation - he liked what he liked and didn't deviate from it."

Phone box facts

• Prototype was produced in concrete in 1920

• In 1924 Sir Giles Gilbert Scott won a competition to design a new model

• His original colour was silver, but the Post Office changed this to red

• He also designed Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Battersea Power Station, and Bankside Power Station (now the Tate Modern)

• The K6 model, commissioned in 1935 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V, is the most common, with 60,000 installed

• About 2,400 phone boxes have been designated as Grade II-listed buildings

• They are also a familiar sight on the streets of Malta, Bermuda and Gibraltar

Eric's phone box - directly opposite his home - came under threat several years ago when BT planned to disconnect it.

At risk of being cut off from his family and friends, the former Leyland Motors worker engaged the help of Bretherton parish councillor Karen Wait.

She said: "Eric came to me and asked if there was anything I could do - so we made representations to BT and the box was saved as a working phone.

"Now they've said they want to remove it again - and the sad thing is that with Eric gone, the purpose for it has gone as well. But we want to retain it in his memory."

The disconnected box has now been turned into a book and DVD exchange point.

The parish council plans to add a sign saying "Eric's phone box" on the outside, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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