MORE than 1,000 pieces of vital personal protective equipment has been supplied to NHS staff at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport after an appeal on a Facebook group saw donations pour in.

The group – coronavirus help and advice in Newport – was started by Craig Abdie with the mission of supporting those in need during the lockdown.

Within a day, the group blossomed into thousands of members.

It was then that Mr Abdie, who works for Motion Rail in Ebbw Vale, approached chief executive of the company Emma Dymond for support.

“Craig asked if he could use the van and said he would like to deliver supplies and help those in need,” she said.

“But we also realised that the Facebook group had a chance to raise quite a large amount of funding.”

The pair then set up a GoFundMe page, injecting over £3,000 of their own money, to help procure PPE for staff at the Royal Gwent.

South Wales Argus:

(Emma Dymond (L) and Craig Abdie (R) put in over £3,000 of their own money.)

“The donations just did not stop.”

So far, they have raised over £10,000 and supplied three hundred visors, over a thousand masks and two air filtration suits – which cost £900 each.

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“My company has been working in Newport and we have been involved in the electrification of the railway and whenever we have had engineers be sick or had accidents, they have gone to the Royal Gwent,” Ms Dymond added.

“We just wanted to give a little back and we've also given some to the Welsh Ambulance Trust."

“We called it Project Kindness. The amount of people who have given us money, even when they don’t have a lot has been amazing.

“And Craig, he won’t like this, but has been our hero driving supplies and helping people out.”

South Wales Argus:

(Staff receiving donations (L) and a nurse wearing a face mask bought by the Facebook group's donations (R).)

  • If you would like to donate click here
  • Or join the Facebook group here

Mr Abdie has also been taking physical goods donated by group members – clothing, toiletries, slippers, sanitary products, TVs and more – and dropping them off at the Gwent.