Councillor gives blood for 150th time

Labour’s Chapelford and Old Hall councillor Steve Parish, who was first elected to the council in 2011, has been giving blood since 1967.

His latest donation in Widnes came after age-related restrictions – which prevented donors aged 70 and over from giving blood during the coronavirus crisis – were lifted.

Cllr Parish, who lives in Great Sankey, said: “My dad had been a regular donor so I started as soon as I was 18.”

“They are running out of veins, because it was so hard to find a vein in my right arm they had then taken from just the left arm – and now there is so much scar tissue there they can’t find a vein, so they have gone back to the right arm.

“It needed a very good person with the needle to find a vein.”

But Cllr Parish says he never expected to still be donating at this age.

He says it’s a 'good civic duty thing to do' and that he feels physically better after a donation.

"You used to have to stop, I think, at one stage you had to stop at 65," he said.

“They actually did stop me at one stage on medical grounds and then I pointed out there is research that said the condition for which they stopped me giving blood, there was research that said giving blood was good for that condition.

“In the early days they gave you a booklet and you got a stick-in sheet, about one inch by two inch, I’ve still got those original donation books.

“Every time you went you got a little donation sticker to put in the book and then eventually it all became computerised so it is all on the record now how many you have given.”

Cllr Parish also discussed his lockdown schedule, which has included virtual council meetings.

He said: “It has been quite busy. I have thought about a book list to read but I never got round to it, but I finished off Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.”

In relation to the virtual meetings via Microsoft Teams, he added: “There have been some teething troubles with the technology I suppose but we are getting used to it.”