Made in Ashford teams up with The Kent Scrubbers

The Kent Scrubbers, a collective of keen sewers making scrubs for the NHS, was established by Sarah Mabb, Carole Dalton and Megan Mckay. This dynamic trio assessed the enormity of the task in hand and quickly created sub-groups around the county to lead the project in different areas of Kent and appointed different coordinators for each group, there are eight groups in total.

Melissa Dawkins is the founder of Made in Ashford, a Craftship and social enterprise which supports and nurtures small independent craft businesses.

“Sarah Mabb is a member of Made in Ashford and I offered my help to the Ashford, Folkestone and Dover Scrubbers Group when it formed. Made in Ashford is heavily involved with the creative and craft scene across this area so we invited all of our network to join (we now have 1,400 members) and set up a go fund me to raise £200 (which has just reached £4,700!). We have orders of nearly 1,000 scrubs from NHS providers and that number is growing,” says Dawkins.

“I wanted to get involved to raise the profile of what these incredible ladies were trying to achieve using our own social media channels and network to encourage more sewers to get involved. I also wanted to raise money so that anyone could contribute and help out, regardless of their financial situation.

“Special thanks must go to all of those people who have donated money into the effort to sew scrubs for the NHS so far. And mega thanks to those who are donating their time to sewing, delivering and collecting - every moment truly helps keep our key workers protected.”

The support for the NHS is invaluable but from a wellness point of view Melissa has noticed other wonderful changes. “We have seen an amazing lift in the well-being of those involved because they are contributing to this effort for the NHS from their homes! It has also been a privilege to see our members rise to this challenge.”

Another Made in Ashford member, a local artist - Danielle of Tiny Beegle, has been creating printable colouring sheets to proudly display in your windows. The colouring sheets are in honour of the Kent Scrubbers, Thanking the NHS and other keyworkers amongst many more, to find them please follow this link.

Ashford, Folkestone and Dover Scrubbers group currently have orders for 827 sets of scrubs, 614 face masks, 289 scrub hats, 304 wash bags. These orders for scrubs have been received from the following places: William Harvey Hospital, Ham Street Surgery, Buckland Hospital, Deal area 2, Pilgrims Hospice Ashford, KMPT SE Mental Health Team, Folkestone C19 Hot Hub, St James Surgery Dover, Cedar House Barham, Ashford PCT C19 Hot Hub, White Cliffs Med Center Dover and the Deal PCT C19 Hot Hub.