City of London Academies Trust volunteer makes scrubs for NHS staff

A volunteer at a @CityofLondon Academies Trust school has put her sewing skills to the test and created scrubs for #NHS doctors and nurses.

Nicky Manby, a retired modern languages teacher who now volunteers at the City of London Primary Academy Islington (CoLPAI), has taken to her sewing machine to produce scrubs for medical staff at Ipswich Hospital.

Scrubs, the plain clothes worn by medics when looking after patients, are being used by an increasing number of NHS staff as part of their personal protective equipment and changed more frequently in order to stop the spread of Covid-19, so volunteer sewers around the country have come together to make up the shortfall.

Ms Manby, who is a dress maker, volunteers at CoLPAI to teach the school’s bilingual children French.

The Islington resident and former teacher at the City of London School for Girls answered a plea to join a group of volunteers to make scrubs for the staff at the Ipswich hospital where they are in short supply.

Nicky Manby said: “To be able to make scrubs for those that are working on the frontline is a honour and a privilege. I am pleased I am able to help in this small way and I feel it is the least I can do for them.”

Kim Clapham Headteacher of City of London Primary Academy Islington said: “We are all so proud of Nicky and the wonderful contribution she is making to the NHS. I am immensely pleased that one of volunteers is able to help the NHS at this extremely testing time.”

CoLPAI is part of the City of London Academies Trust, which runs the City of London Corporation’s sole sponsored academies.