COVID-19: Frenni Transport supply face shields

Haulier Frenni Transport Ltd, based at Crymych in Pembrokeshire, is leading a campaign to provide high-quality protective face shields for the local community during the Covid-19 crisis. At the time of writing, the amount raised by its GoFundMe account stands at just short of £18,000. The initial funding was provided equally by Frenni Transport and neighbours Mansell Davies and Son, and has since been supported by many local businesses and individuals, including a substantial top-up from local celebrity comedian Rhod Gilbert. The shields are being donated to local healthcare workers, pharmacies and shop staff.

The general logistics haulier and Palletways network member, which operates some 40 vehicles from vans to artics and covers the whole SA postcode, is already active in supplying the healthcare sector with essential services. Director Mathew Parry (pictured below) said “As a local transport company, we can see the pressure on our local health workers. We have delivered to the new Swansea Bay Hospital and to the Bluestone Resort along with the regular but larger deliveries to all of our main hospitals in South and West Wales. Recently, we have transported protective screens to Morriston Hospital in Swansea made by local businesses, to help protect healthcare workers and patients. Everyone is pulling together in this emergency situation and it is important that we all play our part too.”

The equipment, based on an existing design modified for ease of use and manufacture by Parry, whose business origins are in furniture making, are being assembled by a team of around 40 members of the Crymych community, including the retained firefighters at the village’s Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. By the end of this week, over 26,000 pieces will have been made, with materials in hand for another 32,000.

Parry added: “We have been overwhelmed by the response from the local community to support our campaign. As a company with more than 40 years of working in the local community, it was important that we did our bit to help protect those still at work in shops and pharmacies, serving the public. Members of the local community have volunteered their time to help make and pack the protective equipment to support local people on the front line”