ng popular beer has utilised one of its machines at its factory into one making vital hand sanitiser which is being donated to local good causes.

The machine used to clean bottle filling equipment at the Budweiser Brewery in Magor is now churning out hundreds of litres of hand sanitiser which is being distributed among others to care homes, doctors’ surgeries, funeral directors, nurseries and Gwent Police.

Pete Duggan, bottle packaging manager at the brewery said: ‘‘I have focused on mainly the teams who do not get priority access to PPE and are a bit like the ‘forgotten heroes’ of this crisis.

‘‘I am leading the production and three lads in my team are doing the physical dispensing of the sanitiser on site.

“Last week I dropped 40 litres of hand sanitiser off at the Gibraltar Nursing Home and the ladies there were very appreciative.

‘‘Among others we’ve also donated to the community care team who provide community care from hospitals and long term care in the whole of South Monmouthshire.’’

In just eight days the team delivered more than 1,000 litres of hand sanitiser to 12 different groups plus a further 505 litres to Lancashire Police Force.

Pete went on to explain: ‘‘I have been with the company for four years and have spent the last year in my bottle packaging role.

‘‘I didn’t expect to be making hand sanitiser for those most in need during the Covid-19 outbreak however when one of our suppliers made us aware that we had equipment on one our our bottling lines here at Magor which could be converted to do this, I felt we had to step forward and do the right thing.

‘‘My team have really embraced the challenge since, and we are now producing in excess of 200 litres of sanitiser per day for donation.

‘‘We are really proud to be able to make a difference and boost the morale of key front line workers such as the police, local care homes, GP surgeries, community health workers and even the Brecon Mountain Rescue team!’’

Once word got out Pete has had numerous requests for help which he and his team are responding to.

‘‘I am so pleased so say we have now donated 750 litres of disinfectant to those in need - with much more to come.

‘‘With scarce supply of essential sanitizer people have been over the moon to receive our support.

‘‘I am proud that we can help and proud of my team Andy Orford-Morgan, Jason Angel and Craig Evans and proud to work for the company that is part of the solution to the issues communities are facing.’’

Chief Constable of Gwent Police Pam Kelly said: “Having the support of our communities is so important at times like these. It shows that people are encouraged by what we are doing and understand the importance of working together. Personal Protective Equipment is vital to ensure that officers are able to continue to protect and reassure the public while also protecting themselves.

‘‘I am touched by these generous donations, they will be issued throughout our force where they will be gratefully received.”