Barry Horns donate Euro 2016 single profits to Welsh NHS PPE fundraising campaign

The eleven-piece Barry Horns band, known for their noisy support for the Welsh football team at international matches, have donated the profits from one of their singles to a Welsh NHS PPE campaign.

The profits from This Is Wales, an original track released in time for the 2016 European Championships, will go towards PPE charity Tarian Cymru.

Tarian Cymru, set up to fundraise for protective equipment (PPE) for health workers in Wales, has already raised over £32,000 towards the cause.

The fundraising campaign is run as a crowd-funding initiative on the GoFundMe platform, with a team of volunteers working to get the right PPE to the workers who need it most. Last week the first 600 visors arrived and were distributed around Wales.

The Barry Horns’ contribution is understood to amount to “the best part of a thousand pounds”.

“Nobody imagined something like this would happen, but if the record has a little legacy in Wales’ fight against Covid-19, it seems fitting,” band member Fez Watkins said.

‘Support’

In a message on the Tarian Cymru fundraiser, organiser Carl Morris from Cardiff said that they were preparing for serious PPE problems in Wales for quite some time.

“For the summer (at least) there will need to be community responses for health and care workers – where official efforts have fallen short,” he said.

“Tarian Cymru has ordered these items: gloves, medical gowns, masks, and visors. We never sit on boxes of PPE.

“As well as ordering, Tarian Cymru has partnered with local manufacturing projects for visors, including Crymych Community Project and Ysgol Bro Morgannwg.

“We are developing our distribution networks and teams to reach ALL of Wales’ hospitals, health, and care sites. Everybody is volunteering.

“Having so much support – financial, practical, and moral – is so encouraging.

“Every step of the way we’re sharing our supplier contacts with the authorities in Wales, and will adapt all activity based on need.”