A small team of our employees who are currently unable to do their work at home, have joined together and volunteered to make much needed scrubs, gowns and pillow case bags on behalf of the ‘My Wish Charity’ who support the West Suffolk Hospital.

Rosie Thake, who works in our swatch cutting and pattern library brought the team together, and enlisted the skills and support from her colleagues Rachel Claydon, Stella Cutmore and Joy Hayward.

Rosie said ”A friend who goes to Stoke by Nayland golf club volunteered my services as she knows I enjoy sewing and thought I might like to help, and to be honest I was glad to offer my services, limited as they are. I had seen on the news that various manufacturers were diversifying their products to help supply the NHS with PPE, and on the local news, people who had the wherewithal and any ability were also making scrubs from donated duvet covers , bed linen etc. My husband works at Siemens and sent an email asking people to donate the fabric and the response was great, so I thought maybe Stephen Walters and David Walters might like to get on board. I emailed our Managing Director, Julius Walters, who was very supportive offering any resources that the mill could offer, whilst taking into account the need for social distancing. This is how Rosie’s team of seamstresses was born.

I procured the help of Stella and Joy who are much more professional than I am, and the cutting skills and delivery services of the lovely Rachel and we are up and running. Julius put out an email asking for donations of usable fabrics to be delivered to Rachel’s home ( left safely at the end of the drive ), and with support from the Walters group she has been able to cut out and deliver about 25 sets so far with more piled up on her sofa”.

Everyone at Walters would like to thank all those that have made fabric donations so far, but most importantly a huge thank you to Rosie, Rachel, Stella and Joy for doing such an amazing job.