A CREDITON woman has delivered a batch of more than 1,020 tubes of hand cream to nurses, doctors and staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

Yvonne Youles explained: "Back in February a friend Heather Barlow, who works at the RD and E Hospital posted on Facebook that the staff were desperate for hand cream as their hands were suffering with all the constant washing and sanitising.

"An appeal on Facebook was what was needed so I wrote a post asking friends and family to buy and donate.

"I’m an Avon rep and fortunately hand cream was on offer at three for £3, which with my commission deducted worked out at £2.25.

"I asked for donations of three tubes but many bought upwards of that with the most generous purchasing 27!

"I was hoping to get to 200 but quickly surpassed that! I thought I should give my Avon customers the chance to donate which boosted the total further. "

My Avon colleague, Jude Thistlewood, duplicated my post and her friends added a further 300 tubes! When we got to over 900 I thought 1,000 sounded better so did a final push and the total exceeded 1,000!

"Thank you so much to everyone who donated, as you can see from the photos it was worth the effort.

"Special thanks to Heather for getting them to where was needed. Also thank you to everyone in the NHS and all our other key workers who are helping to keep us safe in a multitude of ways."

The 1,020 hand creams were delivered to the R D and E Hospital and were welcomed by staff.

Yvonne added: "A massive thanks to all my Facebook family and friends and my Avon customers! Special thanks to Barbara Hewitt, Tina Steninger Susan Kellett and Lynda Glasson who live ‘up country’ but were happy to donate.

"We amassed 720 with the remaining 300 coming from Jude’s Facebook friends. I’m very proud we have been able to help so give yourselves a big round of applause."