Two women who wanted to do something practical to help NHS workers on the frontline battling Covid-19 thought they might make two pairs of scrubs each and raise £200 for more material.
But in true community spirit, Anne Guney and Kelly Compton gathered 367 members into a group of helpers, raised £2,700 in donations through Go Fund Me to cover their material costs and have been making 400 pairs of scrubs and many more scrub bags.
And actor Cliff Parisi, who is Fred in the BBC TV series Call The Midwife, also pitched in to help them cut and sew.
Saffron Walden - For The Love of Scrubs - Our NHS Needs Us started on April 15 and has four teams of nine people in Saffron Walden, teams in Wenden, Newport, Thaxted and individuals across the Saffron Walden area who are helping to sew. The group is a spin off from a national group set up on Facebook.
Janet Riley Fabrics in Saffron Walden helped with scissors, pins and haberdashery, Lucy King Curtains let Anne and Kelly use her studio to cut huge amounts of fabric and and donations have flooded in from individuals, from the Freemasons, £3 from a child’s pocket money, and £250 from Walden Capital.
The money has allowed them to buy new material, which is measured and cut up before it is stitched.
Before the donations arrived, they used donated duvets to turn into scrubs.
They have delivered 55 sets of scrubs to Papworth Hospital and they have made 602 scrubs bags. Items have gone to Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge, Arthur Rank hospice, and to local carers.
No material is being wasted.
Anne added: “All the scrap material we have, people that want to help are cutting out triangles to make bunting to go around the town so when this is over and we have the biggest party ever we can have miles of bunting around the street!”
The group’s members are even making the strips of tape for the bunting triangles, and children’s pictures are being laminated and given to hospitals to cheer up wards, staff areas and corridors.
Anne said any money left over will be donated back to the NHS.
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