I’m asking other people to share their stories with me, so it seems only fair that I share a story of mine with you…

Once upon a time, a band called Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark wrote a song about a K6 telephone box they used as their ‘office’. It became their second single and reached the heady heights of 67 in the UK charts. Not counting the re-release of their first single Electricity (which incidentally, finally made it to number 1 in the UK vinyl chart in 2019), their third single Messages reached number 13. This was followed by Enola Gay which reached number 8. The band went on to have many more hits, and the rest is history…until August 2017.

In the intervening years, the rise of the mobile phone had resulted in a massive fall in the number of people using telephone boxes. The telephone box at the junction of Birkenhead Road and Greenwood Road in Meols was no exception, so with no objection from Wirral Council, BT removed the phone box. Fans of the band had been visiting the site for years and there was a backlash from around the world. The Friends of 632 3003 was set up and successfully campaigned for the return of the telephone box. By October 2017, the phone box was back in place.

Moving forward to 2018, and a friend of mine had mentioned Friends of 632 3003 as an example of grass roots activism in a job interview. They got the job and we decided that a visit to the phone box was in order to get a souvenir picture. On the way back, we stopped in Liverpool and that’s where I fell in love with museums all over again. Changes to the A level system meant my subject was withdrawn. This changed the nature of my job which was a real shame and it felt like it was time to move on. I looked at my options and a sideways move into museums beckoned…

So here I am in 2020. I’ve almost finished the Master’s in Museum Studies at Newcastle course and I’m running an online exhibition! It’s no secret that it’s been a fantastic experience and I’ve met some brilliant people.

Still not managed to catch Red Frame White Light live, so I’ll make do with the recording instead…

(People who know me well know that I love word play. Did you spot the three OMD titles (not the ones in italics) in the text? Highlight the white space below to reveal the answers!)

Souvenir from Architecture and Morality, Secret from Crush and Shame from Pacific Age.