Communities across the north of Scotland have transformed their old phone boxes to help people through the coronavirus lockdown.
The working box in Beauly Square is now stocked with tinned food and dry goods, as well as other essentials including nappies and toiletries.
Beauly Community Council obtained a grant from the Highland Council Resilience Fund for the project, which could be extended if successful.
Chairman Roy Harrison said: “Beauly Cares is doing a magnificent job in the local area looking after older people, but we felt there was also a need to provide some support for those people who are struggling financially, particularly families and young people.
“This is an area that relies heavily on tourism and the pandemic will hit hard.
“We are grateful that BT Scotland has allowed us to use the phone box at Beauly Square and, if it proves successful, we will extend it to the other phone box at Beaufort Gardens.”
Members of Beauly Men’s Shed have fitted-out the shelves in the phone box and local businesses, including Corner on the Square, Morisons of Beauly and Scotmid, have agreed to help stock the larder.
Local people are also being encouraged to give donations.
Roy Harrison added: “We have no fridge, so we have to be careful about what items we can stock.
“We can’t have anything that needs chilled or frozen unfortunately, but we would welcome tins, bottles, dry goods and non-food items.
“We’ll be assessing how this works in the coming weeks and see what need there is longer term.
“We’re aware there are other community larder projects in neighbouring towns and villages which work well, so this may be the start of something similar here in Beauly.”
Meanwhile, two other phone boxes in Aberdeenshire have also been brought back to life for the benefit of the community.
One box in Muchalls has been converted into a community library.
Local residents have stocked the box with hardback and paperback books and posted a sign saying “We hope this will help pass the time in lockdown”.
And in Collieston, an old telephone box that was adopted by the Slains and Collieston Community Council a few years ago has been turned into an arts, crafts and games centre.
Sally Sheehan, from the community council, said: “We first asked the children of Slains School for their ideas, and there were some great ones, including using the box as an aquarium, Dr Who’s Tardis, having a climbing wall on the outside, adding a vending machine or portaloo, and even a firefighter’s pole and a tunnel down to the beach.
“To brighten up people’s days and give children and adults something to do during the lockdown, we decided to stock the phone box with art and craft materials, games and other activities.”
