A NOVEL – and potentially life-saving – use is being made of a phone box in West Meon.

The old red phone box in the village centre is being fitted with a public use defibrillator, a piece of apparatus that can give vital treatment to heart attack sufferers.

Full grant funding for the project has been secured by the parish council, with help from the ambulance service and West Meon Surgery.

The equipment will be fully serviceable 24 hours a day and secure.

It has now been ordered and it is hoped it will be installed before Easter.

Residents will soon be notified about how it will operate, and about any training opportunities.

Nearby Warnford already has a defibrillator at Warnford Hall so both communities will have this life-saving device.

There are public access defibrillators now in shopping centres, gyms, train stations, village halls and other venues.

The briefcase-sized equipment is simple and safe to use, giving an electric shock to someone in cardiac arrest if needed.

West Meon Parish Council is also asking for ideas for the phone box at East End.

The box is to be spruced up, with the outside painted and surrounding hedging cleared, but there are no plans as yet for its use.

Parish councillors would especially like to hear from young people in the village as to how it could be used, and the more creative the better.

Innovative ways with the iconic red boxes around the country have included libraries, mini shops and pubs, art installations and giant planters. Knitted poppies for Remembrance Sunday were given out from one in Cranford Road, Petersfield, in November.

Contact parish councillors with suggestions, or e-mail the parish clerk at [email protected]