Clatterbridge Cancer Centre marks 60th anniversary

There was a party atmosphere at the trust's centres in Wirral, Aintree, Liverpool and chemotherapy clinics. Senior staff served them with birthday cake.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was officially opened on March 28, 1958 by Lord Cohen of Birkenhead, who was the most prominent physician in the country at the time.

The centre's origins can be traced back more than a century to the Liverpool Hospital for Cancer and Diseases of the Skin, which was established by surgeon James Seaton Smythe in 1862 in Islington, Liverpool.

Seven years later he bequeathed the hospital the sum of £10,000 and in 1882 the hospital moved to a new site in nearby Myrtle Street and was renamed The Radium Institute.

In the early 1950s, Liverpool was struggling to re-build after the war in a climate of fear about radiation and atomic war and the decision was made to take radiotherapy away from built up areas.

The green spaces of Clatterbridge in Wirral, adjacent to the general hospital, were the preferred site and the Regional Radiotherapy Centre opened.

There were various extensions and name changes over the subsequent decades before the hospital became known as The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust in 2012.

Today more than 27,000 patients are treated every year from Merseyside, Cheshire and the wider region, and pioneering treatments like proton beam therapy for eye cancer are carried out.

The cancer centre is currently constructing a brand new specialist hospital in Liverpool city centre and planning improvements to the Wirral site.

Acting chief executive Barney Schofield said: "We are very proud to be celebrating the 60th birthday of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

"It is a day to recognise the fabulous efforts of the dedicated and selfless staff and volunteers who make this hospital the special place it is.

"We are very proud of our 60 year legacy here in Wirral and we want to keep hold of that as we move into the future."