City's first permanent blood donation centre opens

Mo Parker was donating blood for the 80th time

The first permanent blood donor centre in Brighton, East Sussex, has opened.

The centre, in Gloucester Place, will be able to serve 1,100 appointments per week, compared to 200 at mobile units which were previously used in the city.

Among those at the ceremony was Mo Parker, who was donating blood for the 80th time.

The centre is one of three permanent places to open in the UK in the last ten months, alongside Brixton and Southampton.

"I'd like to have reached 100 but it's not going to happen now. I was quite surprised that I'd reached 80," Ms Parker, from Brighton, said.

"I don't know why more people don't donate because it's not onerous and it makes such a difference to so many lives. My son had a transfusion when he was a teenager.

"I know my blood group [O negative] can go to anybody. I've been told it will occasionally go to crash victims or premature babies when they don't have time to check the blood."

Bena Jones, 27, was donating for the first time

Bena Jones, 27, was donating for the first time and said she was doing it for her mother Michelle Jones who passed away from cancer.

She said: "While she was going through her treatment, she had more than four blood transfusions. I decided it was really important to give back."

There are 17,871 people in Brighton that have registered to give blood but are yet to donate. This is the third highest number of any local authority in England.

The first permanent blood donor centre in Brighton has opened

The centre said it needed more young people to become the next generation of blood donors.

Clare Carman, clinical donor centre manager, said: "We're open seven days a week.

"It's really good news that we have a permanent donation centre."

The mobile units were previously open five days a week and were reliant on factors such as the weather to stay open, Mrs Carman said.