Ashby Mayor Graham Allman says more linen shopping bags bearing the town's name have been distributed for use by health workers.

Last week, we reported that a friend of the Mayor and Mayoress of Ashby, who is an NHS professional, had asked for the bags for front line staff to use.

The idea was that the uniforms could be put into the bag, then the washing machine so as to sanitise both at the same time.

The Mayor obtained the bags from Ashby de la Zouch Town Council and donated them.

And now he has given more to three other important venues in the town - Ashby Pharmacy, based at The Green, Caste Medical Centre on Burton Road and NHS nurses based at Legion House in South Street.

The Mayor said: "We provided a large number of linen shopping bags branded with the new Ashby logo to an NHS professional friend of the Mayoress Charmaigne Allman & myself, Mrs Nicki Briggs who is an Ashby resident and her husband Mile Briggs, who runs a local business, for use by frontline staff of local NHS Trusts to take their uniforms home to sanitise.

"Nicki's idea was to throw their uniforms along with bag into their washing machines, sanitising both at the same time.

"A variation of placing their uniforms in pillow cases but still the necessity to sanitise any bag used for transporting the uniforms - saving valuable time for the hard pressed NHS staff.

"As Town Mayor I was well placed to measure further potential - and the idea spread seeing the community NHS nurses based at Legion House, home of Ashby Town Council being provided with a number of bags.

"Following onto this I placed a number of bags at Ashby Pharmacy which is open from 7am through to Midnight, six days a week, knowing that many carers picked up prescriptions for those they look after and could make use of the bags.

"I then made contact with Castle Medical Centre to ask if they could make use of the bags and allocated 50 units to them handing over to The Centre Manager Jennie Caukwell, who lifted them from the boot of my car as I stood well away around the bonnet end."