Proud day for Shropshire as Duke Of Gloucester opens centre
The Shropshire Star's Shirley Tart joined The Duke of Gloucester on his visit to Shrewsbury.
He arrived early, left late and shook 100 hands in between.
The Duke of Gloucester also left behind an afternoon of very special memories. Memories which, for many, rolled back the years to when Bernard Lingen was Mayor of Shrewsbury in 1979 and, along with accountant friend Frank Davies, launched the Cobalt Unit Trust Fund to raise money for a new radiotherapy department at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Yesterday, John and Linda Lingen, Bernard Lingen's son and daughter-in-law and Geoff and Marisha Davies, Frank Davies's son and daughter-in-law proudly joined staff and other guests in a tribute to parents who had inspired all that the Lingen-Davies Centre is today. Frank's 91-year-old widow Pat was not well enough to join the celebrations but Marisha said: "She was really sorry to miss it all." Geoff added: "I can remember idad coming home at night with bags and bags of money which had been raised and donated and we'd sit at the kitchen table counting it."
Unveiling a plaque to officially open the new, £5 million purpose built Cancer and Haematology Unit, the Duke of Gloucester said: "It's with great gratitude that we now have this centre and the teams who know how to use it. As years go by there will be more progress and more technology but, for now, you are the cutting edge."
