A TREE adorned with face masks is being created in the front garden of a Haddington home.

Debra Newlands was inspired to create her own face masks after buying “awful” versions online.

Now, she is hanging the masks from the branches of a tree outside 61 Davidson Terrace, home to her son Luke Newlands, his partner Ashley Voy and her daughter Summer Deans, and encouraging people to buy one in exchange for a donation to Cancer Research UK.

She said: “We did a pop-up tree on June 23 and I thought nobody would come round but it was really good.

“I have had a lot of people looking to order [the face masks] and that is how it came about.

“It is a good way to protect the community against Covid-19 and raise some money for charity.

“We picked Cancer Research UK because we lost a dear friend in March and it affects everybody.”

Since the middle of June, Debra, who works as a theatre nurse at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, estimates she has made 200 masks.

Debra, 53, previously did “a bit of dressmaking” and called upon those skills again to create the masks.

Materials have been ordered online while she has also visited Fabrication, on Haddington High Street, on a regular basis to get what she needed to make the facewear.

People across the country have been using face masks while on public transport. Then, last week, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced it would be mandatory to wear them in shops from tomorrow (Friday).

Debra, who lives on Haddington’s Acredales Walk, told the Courier: “I had ordered some masks online for myself to start using going shopping.

“They were awful and I thought I would make one.

“I went online and started looking at different patterns and things and tried a couple and made a few.

“While I was looking online, I came across an initiative which started down south called Community Mask Trees.”

The scheme was launched in Amesbury, near Salisbury, and has spread throughout the UK, with a handful of community mask trees in Scotland. Community mask trees are being created by volunteer sewers to provide free cloth face coverings to anyone who might need one.

The pop-up Haddington Community Mask Tree takes place from 10am today (Thursday) outside the home on Davidson Terrace.

Debra added: “We are asking for a donation of £5 for an adult mask and £3 for a child mask, and everybody has been happy to donate that.

“In fact, some people have given more.

“It costs around £2/£2.50 to make each mask so I’ve had to use some of it to buy fabric, etc, but we made £200 profit from the first tree.”