Blood drive at Basingstoke college (From Andover Advertiser)

NHS Blood and Transport visit Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke

11:00am Saturday 9th March 2013 in Basingstoke By Helen Morton

STUDENTS were urged to give a clear sign that they want to help save lives at a special event at a Basingstoke college.

A team from NHS Blood and Transplant visited Queen Mary’s College, in Cliddesden Road, to encourage the teenagers to sign up as blood donors.

QMC principal Stephen Sheedy said: “This is the launch of a campaign. We are hoping at some stage that we will be able to get mobile units visiting the college so our students can give blood on site.

“We have 2,500 young people at the college with some very good blood! We’re hoping that many of them make a commitment to donate.”

The student union helped to organise the event, which ran from 10am until 2pm on Monday.

Union member Josh Wilks was the first to sign up to donate his blood.

He said: “My mother was in hospital a couple of years ago. She needed blood and she was lucky because someone had given their blood. I thought it would be nice for me to do the same.”

Amanda Whatley, blood donor relations co-ordinator, said that there has been a drop in 17-24-year-olds registering to give blood in recent years.

She said: “It is really important to get young people signed up. Research shows that those who sign up before the age of 26 are likely to become donors for life.

“We are hoping that many of the students here today will be keen to sign up, and we also want to raise awareness of the need for blood donors.”

The event, which was part of the national Step Up, Sign Up, Share NHS campaign, led to 145 students signing up.

Students attending the event were also encouraged to spread the word about the need for more blood donors on social media.