During lockdown Lynn Barrow, a member of a passionate Charlton family, has spent her time volunteering to produce scrubs for NHS doctors and nurses to aid in the battle against Covid-19.
Lynn is part of a sewing group with colleagues Lorraine Westhead, Annie Conway, Janice Atkins and Helen Doris.
She explained how the initiative came about: “We’re a group of five ladies who have sewn for many years, up to 20 for some of us. We started on a tailoring course at an adult education workshop in Lewisham.
“Our tutor saw that a nurse had appealed for more scrubs on Facebook as they cannot wear their own clothes home from the hospital. It spiraled from there.”
With members based locally, in Blackheath and Bexley, the ladies are working from home to tailor scrubs, funded completely by donations from the public through their JustGiving page. Lynn went on to explain how important it is to help the NHS during these times.
“We got involved as it’s our bit to help the NHS, we can’t help them in any other way. It’s a thank you to them and something we can do to help, it’s nothing compared to what they’re doing,” she said.
“All of it is funded by donations, we are passionate about the fact that it is all donations, and nobody is being paid for it - it’s a charity and our way as volunteers to give back to the NHS.
“We’ve managed to order 660 meters of fabric from donations so far but we’d love to do more. 13 sets have been given to a Covid-19 test centre in Lewisham, one of the ladies’ daughter works at Queen Elizabeth hospital so some will be going there and others to Lewisham Hospital.
“There’s so many people making the scrubs but not all of them can afford the fabric so as long as we get money from donations, we will spread this out to the people that cannot get hold of it but want to help in different areas,” Lynn explained.
With the charity ensuring that 100% of the donations received contributes to the fabric and production of scrubs, the tailors are doing their bit to support the NHS in the fight against Covid-19.
To donate to the group please visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lorraine-westhead?utm_id=2&utm_term=mydye8r6d.
(Article by Nick Emms)