Jeffrey AronsonJulian Gostling of Exmoor Trim continues a family connection with Land Rover that dips back to 1948. His three children, Felicity [14], Wilf [12] and Woody [8] have watched their father and his team create a wide range of reproduction and bespoke hoods, seats and other interior pieces at their company in Williton, along Doniford Bay.
When the Covid-19 pandemic mandates forced the closure of factory operations, Julian offered the UK government with sourcing PPE, using their state of the art cutting machinery and materials in stock. While he did not receive an official government agency response, Julian said, “It didn’t take long for people locally in NHS to ask me to help and see if Exmoor Trim could make PPE. I simply couldn’t ignore their requests.”
“So with the factory closed, I went in on my own and designed a full face shield that was simple and easy to manufacture. Our head of R&D kindly came in and produced the CAD drawings so we could transfer my design to the Gerber cutters (made in the USA). This meant we could now cut accurately and quickly, so we could do several cuts and then take all the parts home. With help of my wife, Nicola, and our three kids, we spent our time making face shields.”
“We have supplied all our local hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, district nurses, police and care homes, along with many other front line workers. We have been fortunate to be able to donate 100% of these and are still producing them in our spare time. I’ve lost count of how many, but its in the high hundreds.”
“The masks can be used many times over, and the tape on the front allows them to put their names on or fun messages to help keep their spirits up. It’s also allowed staff to personalize them.”
Julian and his family have undertaken the effort out of a desire to contribute to their national effort in combating the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. As Julian said with a chuckle, “It’s amazing what you can do with a Land Rover soft top window, bit of Velcro and window tape.”