Janet Martin, Warden of All Saints Anglican Church in Almancil, decided however to put the time spent in lock down to good use and used it to raise money for local charities – by making protective and decorative face masks.

Based on a pattern from her granddaughter, a jewellery design student in London UK, and with a little help from YouTube, Janet made a variety of colourful washable masks in all colours and fabric designs and initially raised over €400, and Janet thought that was the end of her production line.

But, as we now know, by the Autumn of 2020 face coverings became a social requirement in our community and with Christmas fast approaching the mass production line in the Martin house went into overdrive, with Janet working flat out to produce novelty Christmas masks for family, friends and for people throughout the Algarve.

Says Janet “I just love Christmas fabrics and over the years I have collected a huge stash, but this year, for the first time ever I have used every single scrap of fabric I had! I made hundreds of masks in all sizes for men, women and children and the orders just kept coming! People were so generous and eventually I made way over €1,000 for All Saints. Amazing! Out of this ghastly pandemic has come some good!”

If you would like to see more of Janet’s work, contact Ann today for more information secretary@allsaintsalgarve.org or call 932 841 943.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes