Marjory Inglis, medical reporter

POP STAR turned global campaigner Sir Bob Geldof is to open Dundee’s new cancer care centre next week.

The city will be playing host to another legend, architect Frank Gehry, when the Maggie’s Centre he designed at Ninewells Hospital is officially opened by Sir Bob next Thursday.

Maggie’s Centre director of communications Barbara Kidd was delighted yesteray when she received confirmation from Sir Bob that he would perform the official opening.

That will be the culmination of two years of effort to establish a relaxing centre, near the hospital where patients are diagnosed with cancer, which will provide a non-medical environment where patients can have time and space and whatever support they need to come to terms with what can be devastating news.

Barbara said Sir Bob was chosen because “he has two connections with Dundee.

“He is an old friend of the city, having been given an honorary doctorate by the university. Also, he has always been a big fan of Frank Gehry’s work.”

Frank Gehry, designer of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, drew up the initial design for the Dundee building. He was a close friend of a cancer patient who died while promoting the need for cancer care centres as a much sought after addition to the cancer treatment provided in hospital.

“Sir Bob is just going to be in the city for the opening on Thursday morning, then he has to head back to London in the afternoon.”

There has been considerable media interest in the new building and camera crews are queuing up for access to the event on Thursday.

But for all those who have worked tirelessly in the background to bring the whole Maggie’s Centre project to fruition, the opening will be a dream come true.

One delighted campaigner will be cancer patient Anne Parker, of St Madoes. Barbara said, “She has been using the Maggie’s Centre down in Edinburgh for quite a few years and is looking forward to the fact there is going to be a centre in Dundee.

“She has been a supporter in the back- ground, doing a lot of fund raising.”

Although the centre has been built at Ninewells it has been funded by the Maggie’s Centre charity and the annual running costs, expected to be in the region of £200,000, will have to be provided through the generosity of the public.

When Maggie’s Centre opens the fund-raising will not end. The day after the opening sees Frank Gehry receive an honorary degree from Dundee University.

The ceremony will be a prelude to a three-week symposium celebrating the opening of the Maggie’s at the university’s visual research centre, which runs from September 28 to October 19.

The exhibition in Centrespace follows the history of Maggie’s Centre in Dundee, including Gehry’s plans and models.