A RED telephone box in a rural village now houses a life-saving piece of equipment.

The phone box in St Weonards, south of Hereford, was used only five times last year.

So when BT offered to sell it to the village parish council for £1, plus ten years worth of electric, councillors agreed to the purchase.

The parish council decided to install a defibrillator - an useful piece of equipment in a rural community.

The purchase cost of the defibrillator was shared by the parish council and the parochial church council.

The parish council then repaired the box's broken glass, installed new signage and added a lick of paint.

The nearest defibrillator is in Llanwarne.

A defibrillator is a device that gives a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest.

It's an essential life saving step in the chain of survival.

Once the defibrillator is open and in position, all members of the public have to do is follow the spoken instructions.