Rotary Club donates £2,000 of surplus pandemic sewing funds to buy textile equipment for Brockenhurst College

New Milton based Becton & District Rotary Club has donated £2,000 of surplus pandemic sewing funds to pay for new, industry standard textile equipment at Brockenhurst College.

The Juki sewing machine, Juki overlocker and A3 textile heat press were bought with money raised by the club in 2020 to help finance the New Forest Sewing for NHS production drive.

Keith Williams from Becton & District Rotary Club said: “We all felt it would be a fitting tribute to our members’ pandemic related efforts to help develop the skills of the next generation of sewers.”

Textiles teacher Megan Cottell said: “The new equipment has transformed students’ abilities to work to a professional standard in fashion and textiles in our fashion studio, providing a range of new decorative stitching options.

“Meanwhile, the overlocker helps students finish off their fashion designs to a high standard, and the heat press has enabled them to develop surface pattern designs before creating their garments.”

Assistant Principal Guy Francis said: “We are immensely grateful to Becton & District Rotary Club for this donation – the students are really pleased with the new options now available to them.”