Sheffield siblings produce badge of honour for frontline NHS workers across the country

Samira Sanders, 15, and 12-year-old Daniel Sanders, from Fulwood, designed the special pin themselves and have been gifting them for free to frontline workers fighting coronavirus in hospitals across South Yorkshire.

But what once started in the region has now spread through the power of social media and word of mouth and has reached thousands of people across the country – with the sibling duo hoping to spread the love even further with help from donations.

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Their parents are both NHS workers – mum, Iman, a Consultant Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon at Chesterfield Royal Hospital and dad, David, a Gastroenterology Consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals – therefore they knew first hand the struggles that many had been facing and wanted to show their appreciation for all healthcare staff.

David, who is also a Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Sheffield, explained: “My wife developed Covid-19 very early on in March before lockdown which meant of course that I had to take the children out of school.

“This started as a distraction, as I said why don’t you design something related to Covid-19 but they really went to town and ran with the idea, creating a wonderful scrapbook full of different options. At that point, I thought we could do something with this because the quality of what they produced was really amazing.”

With the help of family friends and Sheffield-based badge makers, House of Logo, Samira and Daniel were then able to bring their design to life creating a badge which they say “symbolises our struggle against coronavirus.”

David added: “We collected local charitable donations and that allowed us to make the first few thousand and then it just grew from there. It's been remarkable.

“Two of the things that have come out of it - one, people have said about the sense of solidarity and the positive feelings they have about receiving a small gift or token from the children and the other thing is, they say it’s a memento about having being involved in such an important part of the history of our country.

“It’s become a national phenomenon, the British Medical Journal has picked up on it and the children are telling me they have to write something for that. I think they just wanted to play some role and have enjoyed doing something positive during this time.”

Over 11,000 pins have been gifted so far – thanks to the generosity of the public – to hospitals in places including Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Leicester, Norwich and London.

But with a current order of 2,500 badges on hold for the London Ambulance Service due to a lack of funds, the siblings are appealing for further donations to continue their work.

Every £1 that is donated will help fund a badge for a frontline NHS worker, which they can keep as a memento to symbolise all their hard work throughout the pandemic.

For more information or to donate visit frontlinepin.org.

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