A PROJECT to create a tourist information hub in an Isle of Wight village using a traditional red telephone box, has the financial backing of Ventnor Rugby Club.

Roly Toombs, of Ventnor Rugby Club, presented a cheque for £250 to Indra Riches and Rob Engelgardt, who are leading the project in Niton, outside the village phone box last Friday (July 7).

The red call box — once a common sight in every town and village across the Isle of Wight — is being designed as a unique tourist information hub.

The money from the club was raised when the cyclists taking part in this year's Randonnee in May passed through an official checkpoint and fuelling station set up at Ventnor Rugby Club’s Watcombe Bottom.

The money will go towards installing an old-style phone which visitors can use to hear stories of Niton’s history and amenities.

By dialling different numbers and listening on the handset, visitors can learn about
Niton’s murky smuggling past, or the devastating bombing attack on it during the Second World War, or interesting facts about Marconi’s early experiments with radio transmissions when he was based in Knowles Farm back in the 1890s.

The phone box, situated opposite Niton Post Office, is hoped to be fully operational by the end of autumn.