Scrubs, visors and racing printers: equestrian community pulls together to support pandemic effort
The equestrian world is pulling together to help others affected by the global pandemic. From making visors to volunteering, H&H rounds up the efforts of some of the businesses and individuals doing their bit…
Hunts across the country have been helping in their communities, delivering supplies, checking on the vulnerable, fundraising and more.
Among those are hunts supporters in Somerset, who are making headbands and laundry bags for Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.
Issy Perry, 13, answered the call from her village email group asking for help, and responded by sending out a plea for further assistance through the Cotley’s email network.
The group is making headbands with buttons for care providers, which help alleviate pressure behind the ears from the elastic straps, and laundry bags for staff clothing.”I’m very proud to be able to help the nurses who are working so hard during the pandemic,” explained Issy, whose godmother is a nurse.
“It’s a great way for the hunt to get involved and all of us who volunteered to sew are pleased to be able to show our appreciation in this way.”
The Countryside Alliance’s head of hunting, Polly Portwin, added: “This is yet another example of hunt supporters working together within their local communities to assist those who are on the front line. Many hunts across the country have become involved in similar acts of goodwill and we are proud that hunting’s vital networks are being put to good use during this unprecedented crisis.”
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Harry Hall is sending “thank you” gifts to frontline workers.
The equestrian clothing company, which is also donating 10% of all sales to NHS Charities together during lockdown, is asking people to nominate those keeping the country going for a thank you present.
“We realised everyone in the Harry Hall team had a direct link to a frontline worker; my sister is a nurse and there are doctors, teachers and shop workers in the families of Harry Hall employees,” said managing director Liz Hopper. “Seeing first-hand how hard they’re working, we had to do something to help.”
Nominations can be made on the company’s Facebook page or by emailing contact@harryhall.com.
The team at Weatherbys is using printers normally used to produce racecards to print sewing patterns for volunteers in the Northamptonshire area to create scrubs.
Antalis UK provided Weatherbys with paper for the patterns free of charge.
Barbour has been producing PPE clothing to support NHS trusts in the northeast.
The outdoor clothing brand started working with the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle to provide disposable gowns, which led them to start producing gowns and scrubs on a large scale for both the RVI and other local NHS trusts.
“Everyone has a role to play in fighting Covid-19 and I wanted my daughter Helen and I to play our part by turning our South Shields factory over to produce PPE products for the NHS,” said chairman Dame Margaret Barbour.
“Our staff’s welfare is our most important priority and we have undertaken a strict risk assessment to ensure we adhere to social distancing and that they are fully protected whilst undertaking this important role.
“I am very grateful to my staff for their overwhelming support. The factory, where we normally make our classic wax jackets, is no stranger to adaptation.
“During both world wars, we turned the factory over to make military garments to assist the war effort. We are pleased to once again be able to make a difference and this time, to support the NHS.”
The National Horse Racing Museum (NHRM), which is closed to the public owing to the lockdown, has loaned its 3D printer to an engineering student producing visors for carers.
The Newmarket-based museum has previously used the printer as part of its “summer of science” activities, as well as to produce parts of its Stubbs exhibition, printing models of the equine skeleton for display.
The printer has been loaned to Georgie Altham and is being used to make around 30 masks a day.
“I am making PPE mask frames to donate to the NHS — currently Magpas Air Ambulance and Ipswich Hospital — using my 3D printer and I was looking for more printers, which would allow me to increase production so that we can donate as many as possible as quickly as we can,” she said.
Georgie is also supplying Addenbrookes and has been in contact with nearby care homes.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.