Frodsham Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We will be profiling some of these local businesses and organisations regularly over the coming weeks in a feature called 'Up Close In Frodsham'.

Today we caught up with Dawn Farrell, founder and owner of The Elizabeth Arnold Sewing Studio.

Named after her parents, Arnold and Elizabeth (Betty), Dawn's business is a tribute to the warmth and happiness of her family-oriented upbringing.

"My mum was a lovely person: she'd give you her last penny, she'd always do anything for you and she always put people in front of herself," she says.

"And we often used to call my dad a "do-for-now". He would fix things and say: "That'll do for now." He was very clever at taking things apart and putting them back together. He was very creative in that way."

"I'm one of seven, and it was a really nice upbringing: all about family. And I just wanted to create that feel in my business and keep [my parents'] legacy alive. Obviously they've been gone a long time, but if I eventually sell the business or somebody takes it over, I hope their name will keep going. "

Dawn established her workshop at Lady Heyes in 2004, and has been providing alterations, bespoke soft furnishings and tailoring services ever since.

However, this year, everything changed.

In March, the government's lockdown announcement forced Dawn to shut up shop overnight, leaving her in an uncertain position.

Eager to support her local community and with several close friends working on the NHS frontline, she immediately decided to make some scrubs for use in nearby hospitals.

After a huge donation of material from local home improvement company Perfect Floors and Interiors, Dawn posted on Facebook community groups, asking if anyone was in need of scrubs.

She was soon inundated with requests from healthcare workers, turning her friendly favour into a huge sewing operation. Dawn's sister Sandra was drafted in as a socially-distanced helper, and the two enjoyed being able to spend time with each other in this way, despite the enforced separation of the pandemic.

Only a few weeks into lockdown, disaster struck in the form of a broken sewing machine, but with the help of a GoFundMe page which raised around £2,000 in kind donations, Dawn was soon able to replace her overlocker and buy in even more material for her scrubs.

Over the course of three months and 2,000 metres of fabric, Dawn and Sandra produced 350 sets of scrubs, 400 wash bags and 300 face coverings.

They then donated them to Whitchurch Community Hospital, Warrington Hospital, The Countess of Chester and Alder Hey Children's Hospital, as well as local GP practices, dental surgeries and care homes.

Some scrub sets even found their way to Scotland, where a customer's healthcare worker mother was in desperate need of hygienic clothing.

"I'm the kind of person who says: "That's fine, I'll do that!" and then before you know it you've made this commitment to people, and you've just got to keep going," Dawn says.

Although several people did offer some very welcome assistance, Dawn made over 250 sets of scrubs herself, and the stresses of coordinating and executing this enormous task began to consume her whole life.

"We'd sew in the day and finish at about 7pm, then I'd go home and carry on cutting out fabric for the next day."

"It was just constant. All day, every day."

"I'm glad we did it, but I don't know whether I'd be able to do it again!" she laughs.

Although disappointed by the ungrateful attitude of some scrub recipients, "the majority of people were so grateful," and Dawn was proud to do her bit to ease the pressure of the pandemic for her local health services.

She tells me that the patterns she made for the various children's wards "were really funky and good fun, and if that brought a smile to someone's face and helped somebody, then I know it was the right thing to do."

"We never ever did this for any thanks. It was more to look after my friends, and their friends and family members."

However, the "hospitals sent letters to say thank you, which was really really lovely."

Even with the scrubs operation devouring Dawn's days, she still needed to find a way to keep her business ticking over. So, in her free minutes, she started running up face masks to sell to the general public.

She now has a huge range of patterns and fabrics on offer, and is even developing Halloween and Christmas designs!

You can read more about The Elizabeth Arnold Sewing Studio workshop on the Lady Heyes website.

Dawn can be contacted at: [email protected]