A STAY of execution has been secured for an iconic red telephone box as townsfolk are urged to ensure its number is not up for ever.

BT has decided that the telephone box at the corner of Silverbuthall Road and Churchill Road in Hawick is no longer fit for purpose.

What is sure is that the box can no longer operate as a telephone service.

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But communities throughout the UK have rallied together to save similar boxes, re-purposing them as everything from homes for defibrillators to mini-museums, libraries, wee bars and food outlets.

In Newtown St Boswells there is a phone box filled with books and games for people to take and return.

The newly-elected Silverbuthall Community Development Trust has secured the stay of execution to give the community time to save the box.

Suggestions can be sent to A Greener Hawick via facebook.com/GreenHawick/about