Owners of Orkney Distilling have donated hand sanitiser to lifeboat crews across Scotland to protect them against coronavirus.
Orkney Distilling Ltd have donated homemade sanitiser to all 46 lifeboat stations in the country in support of the RNLI’s dedication to saving lives at sea.
Husband and wife and co-owners of the Kirkwall-based gin distiller Aly and Stephen Kemp pledged to adapt production at their craft distillery to produce gallons of hand sanitiser.
With donations made to lifesaving volunteers on the island, the couple felt they could do more and so decided to focus on the charity RNLI.
Mr Kemp explained: “Having already donated to our local RNLI stations, we asked the RNLI if we could support by donating our hand sanitiser to every Scottish station. We live on Orkney, and so we are acutely aware of the importance of the service that our RNLI volunteers provide, so we thought that it would be fitting for us to offer a little support in return to the many brave volunteers throughout Scotland.”
NHS Orkney and local care homes have received donations from the entrepreneurs as well as several NHS trusts nationwide and emergency crews including HM Coastguard SAR stations and Scottish Air Ambulance bases.
Each bottle of sanitiser is labelled with the company’s Kirkjuvagr Gin branding as well as the name ‘Angell spray’.
He added: “Co-owner Aly Kemp’s late father, Kenny Bain, was owner of the Arkh-Angell (once a revered part of the Orkney fishing fleet), and our flagship Storm Strength gin is named after the boat, and pays homage to the proud seafaring heritage of Orkney.
“It felt appropriate to continue the use of Angell as a name for our hand sanitiser during this time of particular need.”
Speaking on behalf of the RNLI, Dupre Strutt, area lifesaving manager for Orkney and Caithness said: “We’re very grateful to Aly and Stephen for their very kind donation of the hand sanitiser for all our stations and for their generosity in organising the delivery to every station in Scotland too. It’s great to see businesses and communities coming together to support their volunteer crews.”
