Knitter makes doctor and nurse teddy bears, complete with scrubs and face masks to raise money for the NHS

Margaret Robson of Easington Colliery feels passionate about the NHS. She has heart disease and is full of gratitude and admiration for frontline health workers.

She is creating the bears, complete with face masks and scrubs to give them extra protection, and selling them with proceeds going to NHS charities.

So far Margaret, 60, has raised £230 with much more to come when she has met demand. One bear has even been sent to his new home in Australia.

Margaret said: “I’ve got trigger finger! I’ve got a list of 60. I’ll stop at that for now. I’ve done 18 and am doing three to five a day. So I’m hoping to get them all done before the end of lockdown. I’ll get the existing orders out the way first, then see what happens.

“I didn’t even think of selling them and didn’t expect to get so many orders. People have been putting them in their windows.

“My daughter gets the wool online. We’ve been asking £4 each for them, but people have been giving us £10 and more. It’s my way of showing appreciation for the NHS. It’s anything you can do for them at the minute. I don’t know how they’re doing it.”

Margaret recently saw NHS workers being tested to the limits when she was in University Hospital of North Durham for gall bladder problems.

She added: “They were lovely. I feel so sorry for them.”

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