A dream team of 21 women came together to sew around 200 sets of scrubs for both Congleton War Memorial Hospital staff and local district nurses in their fight against coronavirus.

The group of sewers, who are all part of different Congleton sewing groups and have been helping throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, joined as one to help their local key frontline workers.

Alison Cann, one of the sewers in the group, told Congleton Nub News that there was an ongoing bigger scale Facebook project, which involved making scrubs for NHS staff across the borough and included Leighton and Macclesfield Hospitals.

However, after seeing a social media post from Nicola Davies, a nurse at Congleton War Memorial Hospital, who was asking the project not to forget Congleton's Hospital, the team of volunteers' focus became solely on helping their local staff.

Mrs Cann said: "It was about two weeks ago that we saw the post from Nicola, and it was at that moment that we all decided that we had to focus our efforts on helping our Congleton staff.

"We combined our little groups of sewers and joined forces, it made sense for us to unite and work together.

"The team of sewers had a range of abilities and equipment, but everybody wanted to contribute and help in any way that they could."

They are currently in the final stages of completing their last batch of scrubs, which will be packed and ready for distribution to Congleton's district nurses.

Any scrubs left over will be given to East Cheshire Hospice, local carers and key workers who request them.

The army of volunteers have also been supported by a phenomenal community effort, which has radiated throughout Congleton.

The material came from Callum Bloor, who donated £500 from his Just Giving page to buy fabric for the War Memorial scrubs, Karen Mien managed to get 40-metres of fabric donated from Macclesfield based A Shufflebotham & Son.

Alison's friend Jenny Joyce, who owns Bubblitex Farm Fabrics in Siddington, donated four roll ends of fabric to the team, the material contributed to 12 sets of scrubs being made.

Congleton's Derek Rose pyjama factory donated bags for the scrubs to be packed in, sticky labels, sewing thread and pyjama tie cords. David Snelson, of Stitch It Promotions, on Wagg Street also donated tie cords.

Rose Coats, of Rose Interiors Congleton, oversaw cutting all the fabric in bulk at her studio and layered the fabric and patterns. Claire Lees graded all the patterns, which were made from scratch.

Mrs Cann has been storing the completed scrubs in a little corner at the Congleton Food Hub, on Canal Street, since last Monday.

To summarise the groups efforts, Mrs Cann concluded: "We've all been nonstop for these last couple of weeks, but it's amazing to see what you can achieve as a team."

If any local carer's need a set, please message Alison and the group will try to accommodate as many as they can.

Also available: Laundry Bags, Ear Savers, Headbands and Carers Hearts.

The team of contributors:

Gail Turnock

Helen Booth

Joanne Ruston

Karen Swift

Rose Coates

Carole Burdell

Deborah Brassington

Lesley Mellor

Linda Oakes

Rachel & Angie James

Lucy Cook

Eva Revill and Jo Hargreaves and Diane (from Henshall Hall) still making scrub bags.