Thousands of face masks created thanks to family near Biggleswade

A family from Fairfield have made thousands of face masks for NHS, care staff, pharmacies and bus drivers.

Suki and Balraj Barhey and their children Amryta and Khush decided to make the masks to help those working on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic.

Suki said: "The idea started when we, as a family noticed that there was a lack of PPE to safeguard staff working in the NHS during this critical period of our lives where doctors and nurses in the front line were having to risk their own lives to try and cure patients with Covid-19 virus.

"We felt compelled to do something about this so my husband thought of a quick and efficient way to help out immediately by making PPE face shields so that the NHS workers were being protected.

"Our goal was that even if we could save 'one person's life in the process' the our our work was successful."

They started by producing shields from laminate sheets, sponges and j-cloths which were donated by the kind residents of the Fairfield community after Suki made a plea for materials on the residents' Facebook page.

Suki added: "Later on we approached the council who backed us up with the the idea and joined forces to help pay towards some of the much needed materials.

"Our design has evolved over time so that the shields can be produced fast, in bulk and are cost effective."

The project now has a team of 30 members in the community who are actively involved by helping to make the shields and dropping them off to various hospitals and care homes.

They have also supplied to some community nurses, delivery drivers and shop keepers.

Suki said: "Some of the hospital and care homes that we have donated face-shields to are from our local area, Letchworth, Hitchin, Stevenage, Biggleswade and far away places such as London, Weymouth, Northampton, Lincoln, and even Glasgow(Scotland) and Wales.

"In total we have donated almost 5,000 face-shields."

Balraj has shared the video on YouTube so that other people can benefit from the idea, you can view the video by visiting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMNsMYLrmLc.

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