Burnley mum and daughter's lockdown craft project to honour keyworkers on brink of becoming a household name

The Little Keyworker Company has joined forces with Ribble Valley based marketing company The Hatch creative, media and digital agency to propel it forward.

The marketing began at Christmas with the 'give back to emergency services' campaign, one of the main focuses of the project that is the brainchild of Victoria Bond and her daughter Annie.

Keen to raise money for Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool, Annie (seven) started making and selling craft items and the project took off when her mum bought a collection of wooden characters in a local supermarket.

They came up with the idea to create the keyworker characters, including nurses, doctors, police officers and firefighters. Starting off as bookmarks and plant pot decorations, all drawn and coloured in by Annie, the project blossomed from there into a thriving business with its own website featuring a range of products celebrating the nation's keyworkers including mugs, cotton bags, coin purses, ceramic hanging decorations and more recently the launch of a leather bound stationery range.

Last year the duo joined forces with a leading charity integral to its reason for being.

A portion of the profits from all items sold through Little Keyworker will be donated to the ELHT and Me, the charity that exists to help East Lancashire Hospitals, from raising money for life saving, cutting edge equipment to pamper packs and essential items for vulnerable patients.

Throughout the progression of the business Victoria has donated funds to several good causes including Chester Zoo, Help for Heroes and Tommy's baby loss charity.

Victoria, who is married to husband Rob and also has a son Oliver, three, was overwhelmed when she received a request for one of the bookmarks from Dr Larisa Corda and a mug from Dr Zoe Williams, both who make regular appearances on ITV's This Morning.

Annie, a pupil at Cliviger C of E Primary School, was nominated for a Pride of Britain Award and she also received a Mayor's Medal for her endeavours from the Mayor of Burnley Lord Khan last year before he stepped down from office.

The founding philosophy of the Little Key Worker Co is to spread positivity and thank a number of industries, one in particular, is the health service. As a result, The Hatch team, based in Sabden, welcomed student paramedic, Kiera Phillips, into the office and presented her with Little Key Worker Co products, as a thank you for all of her and her colleague's hard work.

Kiera said: “It was really touching to receive these beautiful gifts. We all work incredibly hard and it’s lovely to see that this doesn’t go unnoticed.

"The story of Little Key Worker Co is truly unique, and I’m incredibly grateful and pleased to have played a part in their story so far.”

As part of its ongoing relationship with Little Key Worker Co, The Hatch team have worked closely with their in-house team to provide a marketing strategy that will further propel Little Key Worker Co in the right direction to organically improve the brand's visibility on the web and numerous key social media platforms.

The Hatch, sales director Phill Monk, said: “We’re exceptionally proud to be supporting such a good cause.

"We believe it’s vital that we provide Little Key Worker Co with the tools required to propel them into the position they deserve to be in.

"Collectively, we can’t wait to see how this brand grows as it continues to spread joy and smiles to key workers across the nation and beyond."

Little Key Worker Co Director, Victoria Bond, added: “Our journey is only just beginning and our passion is to grow stronger than ever, whilst championing our amazing key workers."