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5 articles
A disused red phone box on the corner has found a second life as a book exchange, a lost-property desk and an unofficial weather station. The volunteers behind it explain how a tiny piece of street furniture became the most sociable square metre in town.
Once a month, a local group turns a high street unit into a workshop for broken toasters, tired lamps and torn coats. The repair café movement is about waste, skills and the quiet pleasure of fixing something instead of replacing it. Here is what happens when you bring your broken things to the table.
A burst pipe, a laminated card and 214 WhatsApp messages: local information in 2026 moves sideways, through noticeboards, shop windows and group chats. We asked the people who keep the network running how it actually works — and how to get your own event noticed without becoming the person everyone mutes.
The community noticeboard is not a relic. It is a living archive of lost cats, yoga classes, jumble sales and funeral notices — and in 2026 a well-kept board can still be more inclusive than any street group chat.
Empty units are being handed a kettle, a rota and a reason this winter, as volunteer groups turn boarded-up shopfronts into warm rooms. We look at three Toect member projects, the polite way to approach a landlord, and what to sort out before you unlock the door.