Glass Mill and Forest Hill to host blood donation sign up service

Across the weekend on the 18th and 19th July Glass Mill Leisure Centre and Forest Hill Pools will be hosting the NHS blood and transplant team to encourage people to find out their blood type and register as donors.  

The blood donation service will be at Glass Mill Leisure Centre on Saturday 18th July between 11am and 3pm. They will also then be at Forest Hill Pools on Sunday 19th July again between 11am and 3pm.  

As part of our work with the NHS blood donation service, Bellingham Leisure and Lifestyle Centre will start hosting monthly donation sessions in the car park of the centre. This will be open to current donors and newly registered donors. When we have the dates for these sessions at Bellingham Leisure and Lifestyle Centre, we will put them on our website and social media platforms.  

The centres across the borough over the weekend of the 18th and 19th July will be taking part in our national open weekend, which we see us run additional activities over these two days. More information as to what will be happening over the course of these two days will be made available on our website, Better UK app and social media channels as well and in centre signage.  

The NHS blood donation service is keen to get as many people to sign up to be blood donors as one donation can save up to 3 lives. The blood donation service is also keen to sign up leisure centre users of black heritage as their donations are used to help treat illness such as Sickle Cell which is the fastest growing blood disorder in the UK. The NHS need the Ro blood subtype which is crucial for treating people with sickle cell disorder. While rare in the general population, nearly half of all donors of Black heritage have this subtype. 

To sign up to be a blood donor pop down to either Glass Mill Leisure Centre on Saturday 18th July or Forest Hill Pools on Sunday 18th July or visit www.blood.co.uk