Newbury woman and team of volunteers help make scrubs for NHS staff

Liza Jane-Lamb wanted to make PPE equipment for frontline workers battling coronavirus pandemic

A NEWBURY woman and her army of volunteers are helping to make life-saving PPE equipment for frontline NHS staff dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Liza-Jane Lamb wanted to do something to say thank you after nurses saved her life two years ago when she was seriously ill following the birth of her daughter.

She set up the Facebook page Lizas NHS Scrubs with the aim of raising £100 to pay for the fabric needed to make the protective gear.

But in a matter of weeks, more than £700 of donations poured in, allowing her to purchase enough material to make 60 pairs of scrubs, 150 scrub bags, 110 hats and 150 headbands.

With money running out and demand still high, Mrs Lamb contacted Scrubs Glorious Scrubs in Ascot and asked whether any more fabric could be sent to her.

To her amazement, she was given an extra 1,500m of fabric using money raised by DJ Chris Evans and his son Noah.

She believes this will be enough to make an extra 500 scrubs for NHS workers and is now desperately searching for volunteers and local sewers to help turn all this fabric into scrubs.

If you know of a sewing group that is interested in joining up with Mrs Lamb and helping support this amazing project, please ask them to contact her via her Facebook page.

Some of the 25 volunteers Mrs Lamb has been working with are making the kits, while others are dropping them off to be made.

“I want to thank all of the amazing volunteers who are helping to make these vital bits of kit that are so badly needed,” she said.

“It’s a real team effort. We’ve got people taking away fabric to make kits, we’ve got others dropping fabric off to people and people cutting out at the Riverside Community Centre.

“I also want to thank my husband Ian for all his help – he’s a window cleaner and has been dropping off fabric to people between his jobs.”

The project was kickstarted by the West Berkshire Coronavirus Community Support Hub, which printed out the patterns for the scrubs.

West Berkshire Council leader Lynne Doherty said: “We are delighted to be able to support great projects like Liza’s.

“We’re so proud of all the volunteers and organisations we’re working with and to play a key part in enabling their important work.”