THE Welcome at Longridge is not accepting any further donations of items such as books, clothes and bedding for the time being because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Centre manager Sarah Riley said on the centre's Facebook page: "As a centre we work with lots of people who are older or have underlying health conditions, so we need to ensure we can keep them safe and well.

"We are implementing lots of additional measures such as regular disinfecting of high contact areas such as door handles, and we’ve installed a new hand sanitiser in the café area to help minimise the spread of the virus.

"We have also decided not to accept any further donations of items such as books, clothes, bedding etc… for the time being.

"You can help us by:

"Staying at home if you have any symptoms of coronavirus such as a high temperature or recently developed persistent cough.

"Washing or sanitising your hands when you enter the building.

"Coughing/sneezing into your arm or using the tissues located throughout the centre and putting them in the bin.

"Please don’t take hand wash or toilet rolls – if we don’t have them, we cant open.

"If you or someone you know is struggling because of the virus either through a reduction in work or self isolation please get in touch – we can help."