A76176_Bancrofts_Insight Autumn 2020_v03

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C OM M U N I T Y
Visors for Frontline Workers
The shortage of Personal Protective Equipment for frontline
NHS staff during the coronavirus emergency was well reported.
Marc Rogers,Head of our Design andTechnology Department
(D&T) was following the story when he saw a tweet suggesting
that anyone with manufacturing capability (3D printers, laser
cutters) could help in the production of PPE for the NHS.
Further messages suggested that it might be possible for D&T
departments within schools to use machines, which were
necessarily idle during school closures, to help. Marc decided
to put his skill and that of David Fernandez (D&TTechnician),
together with Bancroft’s equipment, to good use.
“I found prototypes of the various components on line and decided
to build the Prusa MK 3 developed by the 3D printing company
Prusa. To make best use of time we set the 3D printing in stacks of
four overnight. The visors were then constructed the next morning.”
Once the frames were printed, the rest of the job was pretty swift:
cutting the visor shield took seconds and assembling them a couple
of minutes. It was necessary to wear masks and gloves to keep
manufacturing as clean and germ-free as possible.
Following construction, the visors were placed in sealed bags for
three days (to avoid any virus being passed on). The visors were
picked up and delivered directly to local NHS points of need.
The School received several requests directly from parents and
Old Bancroftians working within the NHS for these PPE items.
Initially the Bancroft’s operation was capable of producing 32
visors a day but a shift in production methods increased output.
When Mr Rogers needed to return to his (remote) teaching,
Mr Fernandez continued the work. By the end of the project
they had produced some 1800 visors. Initial fears that sourcing
the materials would become a problem were overcome by a
fantastic response by Bancroft’s parents to social media requests
to provide them.
We were delighted to receive so many messages of thanks
from the recipients of the visors together with photos of them
being worn. Mr Rogers said that being able to produce them
was “an honour.”
OB Heads Up
the Crisis Project
Old Bancroftian Soumya Krishna Kumar, who left Bancroft’s
last July, has launched a scheme to write thank you letters to
NHS staff. Soumya, who has just completed her first year at
Warwick University, took the general “Clap for Carers” one
stage further by thanking individuals for their care and work.
Her simple but effective idea pairs volunteer letter writers with
an NHS key worker who has been nominated by a friend, family
member or even a grateful patient. The key worker will receive
a personalised letter of thanks and appreciation for their work.
Soumya, who is one of the organisers for the Redbridge Covid
Mutual Aid group, says she is trying to reach as many NHS
workers as possible. Over 700 people, aged six to 90, have joined
in writing letters and the initiative is working with more than 20
NHS trusts Soumya’s initiative didn’t go unnoticed.
She has featured in Time Out magazine, the local press, on BBC
Radio London, the ITV London News and is one of the fifty
people named in The Independent’s “Happy List 2020 - Heroes
in a Crisis” which celebrates “the people doing remarkable
things in response to the pandemic.” In June, Soumya
announced a second project: letters to residents of care homes
and retirement homes, reaching out to people who had been
isolated from their friends and family.
If you would like to volunteer to write a letter or nominate
an NHS staffer to say a well-deserved thank you, visit