Dereham's busy blood donor sessions may move back to the town centre – but not until the end of next year.

The NHS Blood and Transplant teams that run the occasional sessions in town had to move out of their usual Memorial Hall base when work started on the major makeover project on the building.

Donors have reported instead to the Aldiss Park home of Dereham Town Football Club, a mile our so out of the centre.

Now that the new-look hall is back in use, a number of people have been asking whether sessions will be returning there.

One suggested that the more central location would encourage more young people from the town's high schools to start giving blood.

NHS Blood and Transplant spokeswoman Claire Dolling said an official from the service was expected to visit the hall within days to inspect the building.

'We're going to do an assessment to make sure it is still suitable. We very much want to go back there,' she said.

But she added that a return to the hall was unlikely to happen before late-2012 because donor sessions had to be worked out up to 18 months in advance and, in any case, some preferred dates for Dereham sessions had already been booked at the hall by other users.

Ms Dolling stressed that the football club had been very good to the blood service and said donor numbers had been maintained despite the out-of-town location. To make an appointment or find out more about giving blood, call 0300 123 23 23 or visit www.blood.co.uk