ALL of Craven’s 33 traditional red phone boxes are up for adoption - and communities can take them on for just £1.

BT is offering people across the whole of Yorkshire and The Humber the opportunity to adopt their phone box and to turn them into something inspirational for their area - such as Settle’s Gallery on the Green, believed to be the world’s smallest art gallery.

It says it will also consider ‘adoption requests’ to house defibrillators in its more modern boxes as part of its efforts to encourage groups to seize the opportunity to do something wonderful with phone boxes that have little or no usage.

It says so far, more than 360 payphones have been adopted by communities in the Yorkshire and The Humber region since 2008.

It will continue to provide electricity - if already in place - to power the light for adopted kiosks, free of charge to communities.

And, where electricity is available, adopted boxes can be used as housings for defibrillators – an increasingly popular and potentially life-saving conversion.

Other exciting new ventures include conversions to mini-libraries, cake shops and information centres, and even a night club.

Katherine Bradley, BT’s senior payphones commercial and operations manager, said: “We’re pleased to be giving even more communities the chance to adopt a phone box. With more than 360 payphones already adopted across Yorkshire and The Humber, this is a fantastic opportunity for communities to own a piece of history.

“The opportunities are endless and we’ve already seen some amazing transformations. Applying is easy and quick and we’re always happy to speak to communities about adopting our traditional BT red payphone boxes.”

Communities can adopt a kiosk if they are a recognised public body, such as a parish council, community council town council or parish meeting. Boxes can also be adopted by registered charities or by individuals who have a payphone on their own land.

Most people now have a mobile phone and calls made from our public telephones have fallen by around 90 per cent in the past decade.

For more details on how to apply to adopt a kiosk, visit: bt.com/adopt where application forms and information can be found.