Meet the Salisbury teacher repurposing payphones to spread messages of hope
It's hoped it will give public phones a new lease of life
Last updated 29th Nov 2021
Red telephone boxes are synonymous with the UK but them, alongside other payphones around the country, are becoming disused thanks to the accessibility of mobile phones.
One teacher in Salisbury is on a mission to change that, and give them a new purpose.
Jez Whitworth, from Shrewton, is recoding decommissioned ones so that they can perform a number of different functions, including giving tourists a chance to learn more about the area they've visited, by asking the virtual operator to tell them about local landmarks.
Another function is to spread messages of hope, in order to bring the community together and give a boost to those who most need it.
Using the operator, Jez is able to call random phone boxes around the country at the same time.
By using data which show on which hours of which days suicide rates go up, he is able spread these messages at times when people are most vulnerable.
Jez has relied on people up and down the country for support on this project, as he had to get the numbers of BT payphones himself.
So he put out a call asking for anyone who walks past one where they live to email him with it's number and location.
A few months later and he has now got over 2,000 of them and is still on the hunt for more.
Meanwhile, he is also working with charities and organisations to help word these messages of hope, to have the best impact.
Computer Science teacher Jez told Greatest Hits Radio:
"Well, the payphone idea comes in two parts. The first part was what originally started it off here in Salisbury we've noticed that a lot of the iconic High Street furniture in the form of those red phone boxes are slowly being removed and they're disappearing for good. So I thought well, what if we could try and create a project to encourage more people to use the phone boxes?
"I got myself an old BT payphone cracked it open and learned how it worked and from then on I've built an operating system that repurposes them so we can give people access to free mailbox facilities because not everybody has a smartphone to hand. But also we can give people access to help and support lines if they need to.
There's also fun sides to the project as well, so I've coded my own version of Alexa so you can ring the operator virtual operator, and have a chat. There's an apology line as well, so you can confess to anything bad that you've done, but also listen to some anonymous apologies as well."
LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER AS WELL AS YOURSELVES
With this project, Jez is hoping he can spread important messages about supporting your community, as well as looking after yourself.
He says that's even more important right now, after a tough couple of years:
"I think it's really important that people not only look after themselves, but look after each other and I think the lockdowns over the last 18 months or so really highlighted what's really important. It is good to talk, it is really important that we start these conversations doesn't matter how we do it in a silly way or a serious way as long as we all get talking and it's extremely important, especially now with the way things are that people are suffering and finding it rather difficult at times and it would just help enormously if we all sort of rallied together, pulled together and just looked after one another."
Anyone who wants to help out or can give Jez numbers of payphones near them are being asked to visit his website.