A MICKLETON beauty salon owner has turned to making items supporting front line staff in the battle against Covid-19 during the lockdown.

Ashley Nicholls and mum Sue Breslin set up North Cotswold NHS Sewing Support Group, which has already made 900 laundry bags that NHS staff can use to put their dirty uniform in after a shift, and in turn can be put straight into a washing machine.

And more than 500 headbands have also been made.

Mrs Nicholls, 34, explained: "The headband came about when a friend working in the NHS said the back of her ears were hurting from having her face mask ties rubbing.

"This all began when we had to close the salon, after only opening No-ThirtySix in March. We thought what could we do now to help?

"We set up a Facebook page and it grew from there as more and more people heard about it and kindly wanted to help. We now have a team of 85 volunteers from around the area, helping us to fulfill requests that come in from all over the country.

"The local community have been fantastic with offers of help to make the items, donations, organising collection points for fabric and holding online raffles to raise money.

"We are passionate about everything we do and we have always tried to support our local community – without their support we wouldn’t be able to do something we love, so this is our time to give something back.”

Anybody who wants to support the group can visit North Cotswold NHS Sewing Support Group on Facebook.