Scrubs Up Bay Of Colwyn And Beyond

Mark Clemson, Secretary of the Colwyn Chamber of Trade, like many other members of our community, rose to the call to assist with the Covid-19 pandemic, and in particular the apparent need for PPE. He therefore put together a coordinated and structured approach and formalised the “SCRUBS UP BAY OF COLWYN AND BEYOND” group, using social media, to address the problem – and was blown away by the community response!

Initially interest was slow, but as word spread, within a couple of days, he had TWO excellent volunteer coordinators taking the lead - Tracey Touliman and Magwen Davis, and an ever-increasing number of members to the group, quickly rising to over 200 and peaking at around 295.

Volunteers included individuals such as sewing machinists - from basic level to highly skilled – with others who could cut patterns, print designs, offers to deliver fabric and collect finished items. 

Volunteers were placed into teams, called Bevan - Nightingale - Enfys - Apollo and Pili Pala, so as to help keep a structure and make coordination easier.

Mark now had a mini industry in place - all volunteering from home - with the sole purpose of supporting the call to provide SCRUBS and other items to local health care workers.

To date, Mark and his volunteer teams have completed close to 200 sets of SCRUBS and delivered to a variety of local needs and destinations including:

                              

• Glan Clwyd CoVid wards
• Rysseldene, Cadwgan & Gyffin Group Surgeries, Out of Hours GP’s - West End. 
• Children’s Cancer Care in the Community. 
• Various local residential care homes including Llys Elian and Merton Place.  
• Marks and Spencer’s Bangor - Face Masks
• Kinmel Bay Surgery - Face Masks
• Gwrych Medical Centre - Abergele - Hats and Bags 

The fantastic volunteers have made approximately 600 SCRUBS bags, 150+ face masks/visors and many, many Theatre Hats. 

Mark, didn’t just stop there though, and appealed for local business to engage. A donations page was set up, in order to purchase fabrics etc and support from all corners of the community helped them smash their target. 

Colwyn Town Council also helped with their efforts, supporting the purchase of specific SCRUBS fabrics and associated materials, cottons etc. 

Mark states “It is a testament to the community spirit of the Bay of Colwyn and wider, that our volunteers have gone above and beyond.”