LOCAL churches becoming PPE distribution hubs to help communities remain safe from coronavirus.

The Diocese of St Asaph is distributing face visors made by PPE Hwb Wrecsam, a community interest company which started at the beginning of lockdown.

And two of its local churches – St Peter’s in Holywell and St Mark’s in Wrexham – will be opening in July so members of the local community can collect face visors.

The Engagement Officer for the Diocese of St Asaph, Sarah Wheat, is coordinating the distribution through churches.

She said: “The churches will be open at set times, advertised locally, and adhering to strict safety and social distancing measures, for people to collect the visors.

“With our churches beginning to re-open for private prayer, we can provide a network of distribution points to help communities keep safe as lockdown eases.”

Hwb Wrecsam is already supplying care homes, GPs surgeries, opticians, cleaners, teachers and taxi drivers as well as plenty of others, such as hairdressers who will require PPE once their business can resume.

St Mark’s Church in Wrexham will be open Mondays and Thursdays between 2 and 3pm from July 6 onwards for PPE collection. Details for St Peter’s in Holywell have not yet been finalised.

PPE Hwb Wrecsam was started by a Vicar and her family and supported by volunteers during the first weeks of lockdown.

The Revd Rebecca Sparey-Taylor and her husband, Graham, a lecturer in Engineering at Wolverhampton University challenged their two sons, Joseph aged 13 and Isaac aged 11 to set up a 3D printer and make a face visor. The boys found a plan online and started production.

Within a few weeks, the family had been joined by a team of volunteers operating a pool of 30 printers based at Ysgol Clywedog in Wrexham.

Since then, production has shifted to Gresford, a community interest company has been formed and the visors have passed the CE mark testing by a notifiable body, required for Covid 19 PPE. The team is finalising the paperwork for this approval.

Rebecca said: “I am so pleased that churches can be part of the solution to distribute suitable PPE to anyone in need. The face visors are provided free of charge, with the hwb supported by donations. Each visor costs about £1 to produce so additional donations mean visors can be given to those in health and social care settings.”