A PROJECT to transform a disused phone box in Musselburgh into a floral attraction blossomed at the weekend.

A team of 15 volunteers gathered on Saturday to support local environment group Love Musselburgh C.I.C’s efforts to give the kiosk at Eskside West a new lease of life – as planter for flowers.

It was repainted its original red colour and all the Perspex window panels have been removed. BT has also taken away the phone.

Baskets were put inside and flowers, including geraniums and lobelias, will be allowed to grow out and over the empty windows.

Melanie Roccio, of Love Musselburgh, said she was inspired to go ahead with the project after seeing a phone box in Tranent that was transformed by the Blooming Belters team.

She contacted the Musselburgh-based CHANGES Community Health Project to ask if it would ‘adopt’ the phone box from BT and allow Love Musselburgh to convert it into a planter.

She said: “As a community interest company, we were unfortunately not eligible to apply, and if nobody adopted it, it was going to be removed.”

CHANGES duly obliged and ‘adopted’ the phone box.

Several residents of West Holmes Gardens who are members of Love Musselburgh donated £40 towards the project.

Melanie said: “I’m so happy the planting is done. We still have some signage to come so it’s not completely finished yet but we’re nearly there. Local businesses and residents alike helped make this happen through donations and I’m so grateful to all of them.”

She added: “The signs will include a panel with the Love Musselburgh community logo and another with the Changes charity logo as they officially adopted the kiosk.

“Then there will be a large panel on the back of the kiosk with information about Changes and Love Musselburgh, and the story of adopting it.”

Since BT launched its Adopt a Kiosk scheme, more than 5,000 communities across the UK have transformed local phone boxes that had little or no usage.