Northern Ireland: Telecoms Branch donate £2,000 worth of hand cream to NHS heroes 

Telecoms & Financial Services June 10 2020

When the CWU 2020 Annual Conference was cancelled because of the Covid-19 crisis, members of our Northern Ireland Telecoms Branch resolved to use the cash saved towards helping frontline NHS staff.

“It’s always fairly costly for us to send our delegates all the way to Bournemouth for the week, so as branch secretary, I spoke with branch officers and our Committee, we asked our members if they agreed to a £1 per member donation to NHS staff,” explains Erin Massey.

“We got in touch with Joe McCusker, the branch secretary from the main union for NHS workers, Unison Northern Ireland, as we had been advised by one of his reps and local nurse, Dawn Emerson from Craigavon Hospital that the members were OK for PPE and sanitiser – and OK for snacks, chocs and treats – but what they really, really needed was hand cream because the constant washing and use of sanitiser for the past few months is leaving their hands dried out and sore.”

So, the branch contacted retailer Home Bargains and negotiated a 99p each, bulk order price for 2,000 tubes and Erin’s team of volunteers – south section chair Denise O’Neill, Section Secretary Ashlee Chadwick – got to work.

“We had to take out every one separately, clean it, place a union sticker on, re-bag and seal. We then organised them into batches of 50,” says the NITB secretary, adding: “Three of us set up a socially-distanced production line in my kitchen and dining room, for a few evenings and then we got delivering.”

Hospitals in Antrim, Eniskillen, Craigavon, Derry, Newry and Belfast received the much-needed supplies, as well as ambulance stations in Ardoyne and Newry, care homes and local midwives’ departments, while the retired members’ section of the branch made a special visit to the Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast with a £500 donation.

“We wanted to make sure, as well as the hospitals, that people in other parts of the health service didn’t miss out – and the retired members particularly wanted to do something to help the hospice,” Erin explains, adding: “Everyone was delighted with the donations – but we also really enjoyed doing it ourselves, as we admire these people so much.

“I’m so proud of our members who’ve helped with this – and my special thanks to Denise and Ashlee, as well as our branch chair Mark Feehily – Generally thanks to everyone. Involved it was a major team branch effort.”

More images of the great work that the branch have been doing can be found here