A community-spirited Burnham-On-Sea couple have made over 140 scrubs bags for NHS staff plus other items during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Gwyneth Linley pictured, and her husband Philip say their lives have been spent time helping out charities in various crises, both at home and abroad.
“Now in our seventies, during the Coronavirus pandemic we are considered vulnerable and are not allowed out to volunteer or help in any way even though we are both very fit and able,” Gwyn told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
“Then we heard about the NHS and care homes needing scrubs bags for uniforms. At last this was something we could do!”
So Gwyn set to work immediately with her sewing machine and the considerable stocks of materials she’s amassed over the years.
Philip helped by using wool to make pull cords. As an engineer he devised a way with the help of a drill to splice the wool strands together in order to make the drawstrings strong enough.
As Gwyn finished sewing each bag Philip turned them through and inserted the cords using another clever technique he had devised to make the task easier.
“People around heard of our enterprise and donated more fabric and wool. Eventually we completed between us over 140 bags.”
“Then we learned that the masks which health workers have to wear made them sore due to the elastic rubbing behind their ears. So a total of 47 headbands which doubled up as sweat bands were constructed. These featured buttons around which to loop the elastic, thus preventing any abrasion.”
“Next, we learned that patients in intensive care could not have visitors. An idea we had was that the patient and his/her loved one would have an identical heart each as a means of feeling in touch with each other.”
“So 40 fabric hearts were our next project down the line. All these items were washed at 60 degrees to ensure they were sterile, ironed, packed securely and donated to hospitals, care homes and surgeries locally as far afield as Bristol.”
She adds: “Being able to do something useful made us feel much better and helped to quickly pass the time during our enforced incarceration.”
