THEO WRIDE, PPE PRINTER

A teenage schoolboy who made hundreds of protective visors with a 3D printer given as a Christmas present by his grandmother is the youngest person to receive an honour.

Theo Wride, a 16-year-old aspiring engineer, has been awarded the BEM for service to his Sunderland community during the pandemic.

When his GCSES were cancelled, Theo decided to use his printer to produce visors for his parents, both of whom are doctors, and their colleagues. His headsets helped to protect front-line health workers at the height of the p pandemic when supplies of protec protective equipment ran short.

“I’m big into en engineering, and when our GCSES w were cancelled, there wasn’t much for me to do, and I thought I could m make some visors, as my mum’s a GP,” GP Theo said.

“I delivered tho those and we realised the scale of the pr problem in the care homes homes, so I did some for my gr grandmother’s care home home.

“Part of the fun of engineering is try trying to fix a problem and get t things back working normally normally, but it’s nice to be able to help.”

Other voluntee volunteers who stepped in to solve the nation national PPE shortage are honoured in th the list, including an NHS nurse who founded and co-ordinated a na national movement to make scrubs fo for front-line workers when sup supplies ran short.

Ashleigh Linsde Linsdell started For The Love of Scrub Scrubs when she and colleagues in the A A&E department where she worked at the time were struggling with u unsuitable personal protective equipm equipment (PPE).

She used her ow own money to buy fabric from whole wholesalers and make scrubs for colleag colleagues, helped by her experience of running a small business making children’s clothes.

The 30-year-ol 30-year-old, of Cambridge, was encouraged t to set up a Facebook page page, and within weeks more than 70,000 volunteers helped make 1.2 million items of PPE for front-line workers, and a further million face coverings. People initially self-funded to sew scrubs, before a campaign raised more than £1 million to buy fabric to make PPE.

The operation was run from her home, with material cut there and sent to volunteers to make into scrubs, while her husband, George, liaised with hospitals. Two months on, the movement had 148 subgroups around the country to help organise local activity. She has been honoured with an OBE for her services to the NHS during the Covid-19 response.