A GRANDMOTHER from Poole has set up a community group with over 400 members to make facemasks for frontline workers.

Tessa Wilson, founder of Frontline Facemasks, normally spends her days working in the family property business, but over the past eight weeks she has been sewing and distributing facemasks.

Over the past seven weeks, the group has given out almost 3000 masks to care workers, postal workers and nursery staff among others.

“A warlike mentality was needed to work together and get us through these scary times” said Tessa, whose daughter works as a doctor in the community.

“I wanted to help those people who are way down the list of priorities when it comes to getting PPE. People who are working in our communities to keep the country going, like delivery drivers, bin men, shop workers and even police officers” she said.

She was quickly inundated with pleas from workers all desperate for personal protective equipment in community-based jobs, so set up the Facebook Group “Frontline Facemasks” to respond to overwhelming demand for the masks.

“Supplying frontline community workers with our masks means the medical grade equipment can go where it’s most needed” she said. “We are on target to make and distribute over 1000 masks this week and have an ambitious goal to reach 5000 within the month.”

The group are totally dependent on donations from the public to buy the materials they need to keep going.

Tessa added: “If our little group making facemasks can do this, imagine what the country could achieve if we all worked together to make a difference.”