Teen helping us fight Covid one face mask at a time ...
A GRIMSBY student has been protecting his community from Covid-19 one face mask at a time.
James Drakes, from Keelby, has sewn more than 100 face coverings for the people of Keelby and its surrounding areas.
He has been hanging them on hedging outside his house with a note for people to ‘help themselves’. James said: “I’ve reached 130 face masks. I will be making more as a lady is giving me a sewing machine.” The teenager has been making small, medium and large face coverings, and others with emoji and superheroes on them.
James has also been accepting donations in exchange for his face coverings – and has managed to raise more than £100.
He donated all the money to Grimsby Food Kitchen as part of his Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.
He said: “Amazing news – I have reached £100. My mum took it to Ken and Cath when she dropped off a sleeping bag and bedding to Grimsby
Food Kitchen.”
His mum Louise Drakes said: “There are 20 face covers on our front hedge including lip-reading face covers. This is my son’s Duke of Edinburgh volunteering section for his gold award.” Louise has also been making lipreading face masks to help people with hearing problems.
She said “ordinary masks” serve a great role in protecting people against the spread of Covid-19 – but “isolate people who struggle with their hearing”.
Louise said: “I saw a woman have a meltdown in Asda because she couldn’t understand what a person wearing a mask was saying.
“This got me thinking – I thought I could make lip-reading masks to help. “I am partially deaf and have had really poor hearing from birth. “Sometimes if you come up on the wrong side I can’t hear what you’re saying but on the other side, I am really sensitive.
“I can hear things cats can hear – high pitch noises most people cannot hear.”
Louise spent months perfecting a pattern which enables a person to read lips as well as facial expressions. She said: “I have tried to make the window big enough so you can see facial expressions, rather than just the mouth.
“Some people have been making them too small so you can’t see if somebody is smiling.
“They might be talking to you and you can read their lips but you can’t tell if they are angry or happy.”