Lifeblood of the borough

AN army of lifesavers who have donated hundreds of pints of blood have been nominated for a Pride in Oldham Award.

Oldham Sixth Form College’s blood donation sessions were set up seven years ago by Andrew Preston, AS course leader for maths.

He was inspired by former colleague Patrick Wells, who battled leukaemia for more than 20 years.

Pat, president of Leukaemia Research in Yorkshire, worked tirelessly to promote the importance of blood donation, especially among young people.

Shortly before his death, he came straight from his hospital bed to give an inaugural recruitment speech to students. He died only days before the college’s first session in April, 2002.

Since then it has held another 14, resulting in more than 1,000 donations. It is the only college in the North-West to consistently supply the NHS with blood and students have even donated on their 17th birthday — the minimum age possible.

Staff raise awareness of blood and organ donation every January. The website blood.osfc.ac.uk  has also been set up so students can find out more, check if they are eligible and book an appointment.

Andrew paid tribute to the work of colleagues who make it possible.

He said: “Having worked alongside Pat, I owe it to him and his widow to follow through his vision and continue to persuade the next generation to think of others and save lives whenever they can.

“Fortunately, many really decent students gravitate towards this college and it doesn’t take much to convince them to sign up.

“I have been highly supported by a superb web design team, by college staff who have kindly allowed their students to catch up on work and by a management team that has been fully behind this venture from day one.

“By nurturing and investing in today’s young people, and making them feel valued, they will in return go on to achieve great things and make this world a better place.

“This nomination recognises one of many important roles played by the college in the local community.”