You can save a life

Well, by donating a small amount of blood, you can actually be saving up to three lives. The blood Service Co-ordinator explained: ‘It is truly the ‘Gift of Life’ with each blood donation contributing directly in saving as many as three people’s lives and potentially contributing to improving the health of many more individual patients. Hospitals could simply not operated without blood donations’.

The process is virtually pain free ( the insertion of a new sterile needle feels like a pinch or mild sting). A donation of 470 ml (one and a half soft drink canes) of blood takes between five and ten minutes. The donor then rests for a further fifteen minutes while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee with other donors and then get on with his or her normal daily routine.

While you are advised not to straight away rush off and do something exerting such as rugby training, you will feel completely normal and body will quickly produces replacement blood. In fact a donor can safely give blood four times a year.

So, if you are aged between 16 and 60, weigh over 50kg, and are of good health there is nothing stopping you.

However you can not donate blood if you have spent more than six months in the United Kingdom, France or Republic of Ireland between 1980 and 1996. Or have ever injected illegal drugs or taken Cocaine.

Martinborough is in the Blood Service’ s Gold Donor category with around one hundred locals lining up for the Service’s annual visit. Why not become one of these generous people?