Residents in the village of Pen-y-Fan have come together to save their historic red phone box from being removed.

Over the last few months they have been turning the old British Telecom call box, a model K6 telephone kiosk of 1935, into a useful 'Information Point' close to the Wye Valley Walk, and on Friday 4th April it was officially opened by David Davies MP.

Newly painted in traditional red with gold crowns. Inside is fitted with a large Ordnance Survey map of the area, a local map showing house locations, pinboards for local services, and a dispenser with leaflets on Wye Valley places of interest.

Nick Brooks, who organised the phone box refurbishment along with residents John Lewis, Martin Parfett, Pete Walters and Rob Nelson, said: "We kept our plans for the phone box fairly simple to make sure its purpose was relevant. Being next to the Wye Valley Walk we hope it will be of help to the regular walkers with extra information, and at the same time will assist visitors and delivery drivers in finding the house they're looking for".

He continued, "We are delighted that David Davies MP has been able to perform the opening ceremony and we are very grateful to Trellech United Community Council (TUCC) which provided funds to help with the refurbishment."

Speaking at the opening David Davies MP said, "I'm delighted to support this community initiative to do something constructive with the good old fashioned British phone box. Not only does it look impressive, it will no doubt bring tangible benefits to the tourism industry in Monmouthshire. I would like to congratulate everyone involved with the refurbishment project and for their hard work in creating what I am sure will be an extremely helpful and well-used source of local information."

Bob Dagger, Chair man of TUCC said: "The community council; has been pleased to support the rejuvenation of these old phone boxes, and maintaining these iconic features for posterity.

"The Pen-y-Fan refurbishment has set the standard for others to match."

A while ago, BT announced that phone boxes in many rural areas could be adopted by local councils for the sum of £1, and set a deadline of November 2012. Any boxes which had not been transferred by that date were to be uprooted and removed.

Fortunately the Pen-y-fan residents, with the help of TUCC, benefited from an extension to the deadline and were able to gain ownership in May last year. In the last decade some 34,000 telephone boxes, over a third of the total, have been removed around the country.