Thousands of visors have been made in York and delivered to frontline health workers across the region.

Dozens of individuals in the city have joined forces to offer their skills and equipment to support the fight against Covid-19.

Their aim is to offer a free safety visor to anyone working on the front line in the York area, and anyone required to work with the public during the pandemic.

Their visors have gone beyond York, to Selby, Riccall, Malton, Pickering, Harrogate, Leeds, Doncaster, Scarborough and Gateshead.

David Young, who like many other members of the visor team have close relatives working in health and social care, is one of the driving forces behind the project.

He uses 3D printers in his creative work and found a design online that was being used effectively across Europe.

The 52-year-old, who teaches music production at York St John University, designs and makes musical installations and also teaches young people to design and use 3d printers with Paul Fothergill. They set to work printing the first protective visors before asking for volunteers to help.

Two weeks later, the project had grown from two 3D printers to 30, along with a distribution network, and partners across the region. These include he University of York, ISF Engineering, Nestle, York College, Blue Dot Lasers, Silverwood Lasers, York St John University, Solinear Ltd, Interact and Connect LTD and York Explore.

The project has produced and delivered 3,600 visors so far and distributed them to staff in NHS hospitals, paramedics, ambulance drivers, care homes, hospices, pharmacies and shops.

David said he had been working 16-hour days, organising the effort and running two 3D printers.

"I am incredibly energised and proud of every person I am working with.

"For me, everyone who has been involved and helped are local heroes. It is a very difficult time to ask people for money but I really do believe local people have shown unbelievable kindness and generosity. I feel incredibly humbled."

David praised the efforts of everyone involved, including Mark Bentley, at the University of York, for his 'phenomenal work' and Joyce Bennett, also from the university, for her 'tireless' project management.

He also thanked ISF Engineering for their involvement in providing space, support with deliveries and funding.

The makers are giving their time for free but need money to buy the materials. Each 3D printed visor costs around £5 to produce.

Funding has come from individual donations, amounting to £8,500, and from organisations, such as York Mosque which gave £1,100, with the current total at about £16,000.

The group has now upgraded their process to work more with laser cutters to improve the quality of the visors and substantially reduce the production cost.

People can request a visor at www.covid19visorsyork.co.uk.