Once a common sight at the side of British roads, with more than 600 constructed between 1911 and 1962, AA telephone boxes are now a rarity.
Only a handful remain in their original locations, where they once provided refuge for the breakdown service’s patrols, storage for water and fuel and a telephone back to base.
Members of the Automobile Association (AA) were also given access to the boxes from 1919 onwards, to allow them to call for assistance, with around two millions keys issued over the folloiwng 80 years.
In the early 2000s some of the phone boxes were handed over to the local council, while many more were disconnected and decommissioned.
Now, after the birth of the mobile phone brought an end to this once invaluable network, just 22 remain scattered across the country.
One such location – AA Box 442, near Aysgarth in the Yorkshire Dales – is now looked after by a group of volunteers helping to preserve a piece of roadside heritage.
“We used to drive past and I’d think it was a bit rough,” says Marjorie Workman.
“I read in the Dalesman [Magazine] that it was a Grade II listed building, external and I thought ‘what a shame’.
In 2003, she took it upon herself to tidy the gardens surrounding the box, travelling from Barton, near Darlington, at least once every fortnight.
“People walking past used to stop and chat and even one person game me some money for a plant, it was lovely,” the 83-year-old says.
“The young lads and lasses didn’t know what an AA box was.”