Providing Building and Maintenance Services Across the South East

Blood doesn’t grow on trees!

Partnering Contractors Ltd support NHS Blood and Transplant’s yarnstorming campaign to highlight that blood doesn’t grow on trees and to encourage O Rh negative (O negative) and B Rh negative (B negative) blood donors to give blood if they can in the next few days or weeks.

Kings Cross outsidePartnering Contractors Ltd helped NHS Blood and Transplant by donating their time and use of their new Cherry Picker to hang a giant knitted blood drop on the lattice tree at Kings Cross station. It will be up until Friday 21 March, when the national campaign ends, and it is hoped it will remind O Rh negative (O negative) and B Rh negative (B negative) blood donors to give blood soon and encourage more young people to sign up to be blood donors.

Yarnstorming — also known as guerrilla knitting – is a type of street art which involves decorating prominent buildings and places with eye-catching knitted objects, often to raise awareness of an issue or promote a worthy cause. Inspired by the trend, staff from NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) hung woolly red blood drops from trees at Kings Cross train station, and the giant blood drop from the lattice tree, with the help of Partnering Contractors Ltd, to remind people that blood doesn’t grow on trees. The station was also lit red and it was all part of a campaign across England and North Wales. Dominic Sutherland, lead donor relations manager at NHS Blood and Transplant, said “The Partnering Contractors Ltd team were fantastic and we are really grateful to them for supporting our campaign. The donors we need are coming forward but we’d still like O Rh negative (O negative) and B Rh negative (B negative) blood donors to give blood soon.”

Red lightingThe yarnstorming campaign is also helping highlight the fact that NHS Blood and Transplant needs to attract new donors. The number of people aged between 17 and 24 signing up to give blood has fallen significantly in recent years*. Young donors are important as they are needed to replace those who can no longer donate each year for reasons such as illness, pregnancy or foreign travel. Astin Burchell, Managing Director at Partnering Contractors Ltd said “Partnering Contractors Ltd are pleased to help the NHS Blood and Transplant campaign. We hope more people realise the importance of giving blood, donate now if they are one of the blood groups needed or sign up to give if they haven’t before.”

To book an appointment to give blood or register to be a donor, visit or contact 0300 123 23 23.