DAVID Haswell from Northallerton has just given his 75th pint of blood. It's enough to keep the Friarage Hospital, where he usually makes his donation, with a full supply for more than a week.

David, 62, started giving blood 40 years ago when he worked at Barkers in Northallerton.

He said: "It's the easiest thing in the world."

He plans to go on until the age limit of 70, when he should have given 97 pints.

David's wife Michelle, a former nurse, said: "I think they're all heroes. There's many a unit of blood I've put up for patients, suffering from all sorts of debilitating conditions, all of whom might have been looking at an early death without blood donors.

"Yet donors just perform this public service with no reward and no fuss at all."