Volunteers ramp up scrubs production with the help of Freemasons’ cash injection

A campaign involving more than 300 Lincolnshire volunteers making scrubs clothing for NHS workers has been given a £5,000 boost from the Freemasons’ Charity the MCF.

It has enabled the purchase of 2,200 metres of material, threads and tapes to be cut into the vital items and sewn by the volunteers. 

Freemasons’ involvement began in Barton when members of the Lodge of Established Order responded to an appeal from a seamstress working as part of the national ‘For The Love Of Scrubs’ campaign. She was asking for fabric, so Lodge and Chapter members alike pledged funds, with an initial £1,000 raised. Further donations followed, taking the total to £5,000, and this was boosted by the MCF’s £5,000.

Lodge of Established Order member Phil Spicksley is co-ordinating the effort. He is working with Andy Murray, a Past Master of the Lodge, whose daughter works in an NHS Intensive Care Unit. “He brought in the services of a company called Countryside Arts in Spilsby. With production having stopped there the 33 staff members had volunteered to help with sewing, but the company is now back in production, so they can’t help after all. However, the company owner Kathy Brooks has volunteered to use the company’s machines to cut the fabric into pattern pieces, which is a huge timesaver for the ‘at home’ volunteers, which means they can get the work done more quickly.”

Phil said he was arranging distribution of the cut fabric and collection of finished garments. “We can take these to a central point, from where they can be taken to where they’re most needed,” he added. He also praised Fiona Robertson, a member of the Lincoln ‘For The Love Of Scrubs’. “She’s been doing a great job as part of this campaign, and we couldn’t have achieved this without her help,” he said.

The £5,000 has been given by the Covid-19 group, a partnership between the Freemasons’ Charity the MCF and United Grand Lodge of England to help Freemasonry respond to this national crisis. The MCF has allocated £1.75m to support Freemasonry’s charitable response to COVID-19. This money is already being used to fund local projects across the country identified by UGLE’s ten Regional Communication Groups. So far 16 projects have been supported in the East Midlands area, of which Lincolnshire is part, with almost £50,000 having been injected into projects involving PPE for NHS workers and meals for vulnerable people in communities.

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