Myself, my mum, and my grandmother decided that we wanted to do something with our isolation time that would help benefit people but would also give us a focus like a purpose, so we have been handmaking/knitting extender straps for the PPE (personal protective equipment) face masks. They help prevent irritation in the ears; we heard from so many people saying that after wearing continually for hours that it would hurt and cut the ears due to being too tight so the straps were a great solution.

We have sent over 1000 to people who have requested them via Facebook groups and advertisements and Instagram pages. We have sent them to hospital wards, care homes, hospices, funeral homes, shop assistants, vets, school teaching assistants, and care staff who work out in the public with people. We decided that we would fund the materials ourselves and that we would take it in turns to fund the shipping, but many many kind people began donating the wool and buttons.

My mum left a box outside on her wall and passers-by would drop off items in it for her. People made small donations for the postage and through the groups, people even started to send mum the knitted straps and she would send along with the ones she had made to people requesting them. We have re-advertised that these are available due to the recent announcement of compulsory wearing of masks on public transport and realized that no matter what age, everyone has to do this so we put our heads together and have started to make smaller ones for children and we are looking to make them aesthetically pleasing to encourage them to put them on the masks

We are so pleased we were able to help so many people through this – every little thing helps.