MINUTES MATTER
Celebrating the 500th
red telephone box
renovation as part of
BCF’s Minutes Matter
campaign
For decades, the red phone box has been a part of British
heritage but in a world of smartphones, it has lost its purpose.
There are thousands of red phone boxes in the UK that have
been decommissioned and are falling into ruin, but through
the BCF’s Minutes Matter campaign, these derelict red phone
boxes are transformed, with a lifesaving purpose.
In partnership with BT and the Community Heartbeat Trust,
the campaign works to promote the installation of defibrillators
into the many abandoned kiosks around the country, with the
red paint donated by BCF members to restore them to their
former glory. The first paint donation and renovation took place
in Oxfordshire in 2013. Since then the campaign has helped to
renovate and convert 500 phone kiosks throughout the UK.
In 2012, an accident occurred in BCF’s CEO Tom Bowtell’s local
village which resulted in a fatality. Had there been a defibrillator
in the village, a life may have been saved. This incident was the
driving force behind the Minutes Matter campaign.
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Following a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases
by 23% per minute. It is therefore very important for medical
treatment to start as soon as possible. The UK Resuscitation
Council suggests a defibrillator should be available wherever
medical treatment is more than 5 minutes away. In practical
terms, this means most rural locations in the UK.
The scheme works in collaboration with the Community
Heartbeat Trust (CHT), a national charity focused on the
provision of life-saving defibrillation services to local communities.
Alongside the CHT, the BCF aims to create a national network
of thousands of defibrillator stations in red phone boxes across
the UK.
BCF ANNUAL HANDBOOK 2019/20