A LOT has changed since the first drops of blood were taken from donors more than 60 years ago.

The National Blood Service has been running longer than the NHS and it celebrates its 63rd birthday this year.

Started in 1946, the Blood Transfusion Service, as it was then known, was inspired by the increased need for blood during the Second World War.

The first regional centres were set up around the country by the emergency medical centres and the Army.

The Oxford Blood Transfusion Centre was originally based at the Churchill Hospital site until March 26, 1980, when it opened at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

In the first two years after opening, the centre collected 7,400 pints of blood.

In Oxfordshire, temporary donation sessions were set up all around the county to support the national drive for blood, including at the Northcourt Centre in Abingdon, and the Blackbird Leys Community Centre. By 1962, a Blood Transfusion Service mobile van had hit the roads, encouraging people to jump aboard and become a donor.

Workers were also encouraged to donate by employers. Businesses like Pressed Steel, Morris Motors in Cowley and Southern Gas Board set up their own donation sessions on site.

Pete Nicol Harper, 59, of Lime Walk, Headington, Oxford, has been giving blood for more than 35 years.

He said: “I was shamed into giving blood as a student by a friend who had a total blood transfusion.

“I have seen quite a few changes in that time.

“It used to be harder to donate, I think you could only do it every six months. Now it is every four.”

Chief Insp Cecilia Agger, Oxford’s deputy police commander, has given blood for more than 20 years and said: “They used to give you an anaesthetic so you couldn’t feel the needle.

“It always seemed a bizarre thing to do, because the needle for the anaesthetic would hurt just as much.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk Have you got a story about blood? Contact reporter Amanda Williams on 01865 425426 or send her an email