A CAMPAIGN to encourage more people to donate blood has been hailed a success after the target was reached two weeks early.

The drive to gain 100,000 new recruits was launched by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) after a dramatic decline in younger donors signing up in 2012.

People came forward in their thousands to support the campaign, with 1,590 signing up in Wiltshire.

Jon Latham, assistant director for marketing at NHSBT, said: “We'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the 100,000 new donors in 100 days campaign. “It is fantastic that we exceeded the target and people signed up with such enthusiasm and hopefully any new registrants who haven’t got around to donating will do so soon.”

“We rely on new blood donors to keep coming forward as we need more than 1,000 new registrations every day to replace those donors who can no longer donate.”

Anyone aged between 17 and 65 and weighing more than 7st 12lbs and in general good health is eligible to donate, with no upper age limit for those who have donated in the last two years.

For more information or to register visit blood.co.uk or call 0300 1232323.