Thurlestone are holding a ceremony in honour of the famous red phone box turned book exchange on Saturday, September 30.

As one of the focal points of village life, the twinning ceremony of the red phone box promises to be a fun and memorable day for Thurlestone.

The upcoming ceremony is linked with the phone box’s twin, from a village in Wiltshire called Marden. Four years ago, Marden welcomed six members of the Thurlestone committee to spend the weekend to celebrate the twinning of the two red boxes. In May 2013, Marden held a grand ceremony, broadcast live by BBC Wiltshire where two commemorative plaques were swapped.

In return, Thurlestone are delighted to invite parishioners from Marden and local residents to a ceremony for a celebratory weekend. Commencing at midday, the ‘Phonebox Twinnathon’ celebrations include a specially composed anthem sung by Razor Sharp and Friends, tasters of Devon Cider and Hedgerow Fizzes from Heron Valley Cider and an appearance from a Vintage bus. All the action will be covered by Shep(David Sheppard) from BBC Radio Devon-a familiar face, as for a number of years he has switched on Thurlestone’s Christmas lights and gathered a large crowd for carol singing. The visitors from Marden are being treated to a weekend of celebration starting with Fish and Chips at the Village Inn on Friday, a Heritage Walk, a Cream Tea and finishing with a BBQ on the Saturday evening.

Back in 2012, the decision by BT to remove one of the older and under used red phone boxes turned about to be a blessing in disguise for the inhabitants of Thurlestone. The Parish Council were offered the box for the astonishing sum of only one pound. Kit Marshall, a parishioner and councillor heard about the offer and offered to buy and take care of the box. It was then painted, decorated and set up as a Village asset and book exchange, proving very popular within the community.

The box continues to be the pinnacle point for all local, national and international festivities-even having its own Facebook account. It gets decorated for special days such as Halloween, the Olympics, Easter, Christmas, royal occasions and many local events such as weddings. But, the attraction remains all year round, as visitors and locals alike are drawn to the phone box, not purely for the literature inside. There is a constant supply of new books, which now includes a Children’s box which is currently searching for more donations. If you do not have a book to exchange, donations are always welcome. Consequently by January, earlier this year, £3,000 had been raised to pay for two defibrillators for the Parish, alongside donations to other local charities.

Thurlestone invite anyone to join them in the celebrations at the end of the month.