BLOOD donors are being urged to make a life-saving gift at East Lancashire centres as soon as possible.

Stocks for emergency operations and transfusions are usually low after the Christmas and New Year holidays, when fewer people give blood.

Penny Richardson, blood donor service manager for the area, said donors would be given a free calendar if they attended sessions up to Friday.

At St Mary Magdalene parish church school, Church Street, Clitheroe, sessions will be held from 2pm to 4pm and from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Thursday.

At the Globe Centre, St James Square, Accrington, sessions are being held today, on Friday, January 12, and on Friday, January 19, from 2pm to 4pm and from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

In Darwen, sessions will be held on Tuesday, January 9, from 2pm to 4pm and from 5.15pm to 7.15pm, and on Wednesday, January 10, from 9.15am to 11.15am and from 1.30pm to 3.30pm at the Central United Reformed Church, Duckworth Street.

Sessions will be held at King George's Hall, Blackburn, on Friday, January 12, Monday, January 15 and Tuesday January 23, from 2pm to 4pm and from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

Donors can give at St Mary's Chambers, Haslingden Road, Rawtenstall, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm and from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Wednesday, January 17.

At Todmorden College, Burnley Road, Todmorden, sessions will be held on January 11 from 2.30pm to 4pm and from 5pm to 7.30pm.