THOUSANDS of new blood donors supported a high profile recruitment campaign launched to arrest a dramatic decline in the number of younger providers.

NHS Blood and Transplant set a target of recruiting 100,000 new donors in 100 days and 6,099 people from Greater Manchester were among the 119,907 that signed up across England and Wales in the run up to Valentine's Day.

Jon Latham, at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone. It is fantastic that we exceeded the target and people signed up with such enthusiasm.

"Hopefully any new registrants who haven’t got around to donating will do so soon.

“This campaign has helped to tackle the drop in new young donors. We rely on new blood donors to keep coming forward as we need more than 1,000 new registrations every day to replace those who can no longer donate.”

Young people are vital to the blood service, with 17-24 year olds accounting for around 40% of new donors each year.

Anyone aged between 17-65, weighing more than 50 kg (7 stone 12lbs) and in general good health could potentially start saving lives by becoming a blood donor. There is no upper age limit for donors who have donated in the last two years.

To find out if you are eligible to become a blood donor and make a date to donate, visit www.blood.co.uk or call us on 0300 123 23 23.