Find out more about the tiny village of Old Hurst
Michael McKay and Nick Thomas. - Credit: Carolyn Bussetil
Old Hurst is a tiny village in Huntingdonshire with a huge community spirit.
Member of Old Hurst Parish Council, Carolyn Bussetil explained that there is an Old Book Exchange in the village, which was previously one of the old red telephone boxes.
Carolyn said: “The red telephone box, I think the parish council bought it for a pound, quite a few years ago.
“They took out the actual phone and they came up with the book exchange idea, which has been running very successfully for a few years now.
“We had it refurbished, strip painted inside and out and then Nick Thomas and his friend Michael McKay had some shelves made and fitted."
Carolyn also explained that she is a chairperson of the village hall committee and even though they don’t have a village hall at the moment, they will be holding a fundraising event to raise the money to buy a piece of land to build a new one.
Carolyn also explained that lots of things happened in the community during the pandemic and people pulled together.
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Carolyn said: “We belong to the Old Hurst church as well, so there is a couple in the village who are named on the church list, and then people can contact them to get prescriptions and that sort of thing.
“A lot of us have been doing shopping for older people in the village, so we have got our own little groups of people and we just say to them, go to them if you need anything."
"Our village also does a regular litter pick and last year on VE Day, people celebrated in the village by dressing up the front of their houses."
In 2019 Johnson’s of Old Hurst opened a new reptile house and Andy Johnson, owner of Johnson's of Old Hurst, cut the ribbon to officially open it.
Helped by conservationist and friend Ken Sims, who holds an honorary fellowship from the Zoological Society of London.
The reptile house is home to Mr Johnson's collection of 15 crocodiles and alligators, which includes the critically endangered Siamese crocodile.