NHS Volunteer is a Jewel in Harborne’s Crown

You might know and love Rudell The Jewellers (89a High Street) as a proud midlands brand offering only the finest quality high street jewellery, watches & giftware, but during the nationwide lockdown one of Harborne’s very own master craftsmen has turned his talents towards supporting the NHS.

Terry Williams, a goldsmith at Rudell’s in Harborne, has found the perfect way to keep himself busy during lockdown and offer some much-needed support for the NHS during this extremely demanding and uncertain time. Using his 3D printer, Terry has been able to make PPE masks for his local doctor’s surgery and their health visitors, crafting an impressive 16 per day.

These masks protect the mouth, nose and eyes of the wearer, minimising the risk of infection, and are crucial for front line health workers amid the current global health crisis. We are seeing shortages of this type of equipment across the world, which is why volunteer initiatives like this are providing such a lifeline.

Terry would now like to extend his services to any care homes in Harborne that may be in need of PPE masks, and will do his best to meet the demand. If this selfless gesture could help you or someone you know, please get sharing and get in touch via terry@rudells.com.

Stories about tremendous acts of kindness like this make us so proud of our Harborne community. Thank you Terry! Check out our short interview with him below.

1. How did you come up with the idea?

I saw a note online that said that if you have a 3D printer and you’re able to print masks off at home, DHL will come and collect 20 or so masks from your home for free and distribute to those that need them. That’s what gave me the idea initially and so I asked my neighbours at Boots Pharmacy if the masks would be useful and they said yes – so I printed off 20 for the staff at Boots. And then some of the district nurses took some. I made a batch for my GP’s surgery – but when I turned up to the surgery, no one was there so I chucked them over the fence! Gave them a call and they were very happy and went to collect them. We’ve got a company Whatsapp group for Ruddell’s and I put a message in there to see if any friends might need some and had lots of messages back with suggestions where we should send them. I sent 30 out yesterday to a medical unit and another 30 tomorrow.

1. How did you find the pattern to print them?

I found the pattern online – it was open source and was a free pattern via Creative Commons. Originally I found a pattern that took 7 hours to print, but that was no good. I found another pattern that was much quicker and I pared it down and took all of the fancy bits off so it’s just a mask at its most basic level. It does the job that it needs to. I have also just managed to fix another printer so I can now print 4 an hour. 

1. What has the reaction been like from the public so far?

Well everyone has been very happy and supportive. That’s not why we’ve done this though. At Rudell’s, if there’s a local charity or initiative that we can support then we’ll support it. We always have. I first met Tony Rudell 20 years ago – he’s the kindest man you will ever meet. Rudell’s is built on service. We go above and beyond for our customers and they are our friends, our community. I don’t think that I’m doing anything special here, it’s just an extension of what we do at Rudell’s every day anyway. The real heroes are those key workers that are spending every day trying to save people. I do what I do, this is what I do. I’m a geek, I fix computers and make things, so why wouldn’t I do this to help the heroes that need masks. I thought that if I made 100 then that would be enough, that would be it. But we’re past 100 now and I’ll probably keep going. I’ve also found some fun mask patterns for kids that have tiaras and crowns on them. I might have a go at printing some of those next to make children less scared of wearing them if they need to.