BACK in May 2009, after years of hard work and commitment, Taunton’s dedicated cancer unit opened its doors to the public.

Hundreds of people crowded into the state-of-the-art Beacon Centre at the town’s Musgrove Park Hospital for its open day.

The centre was set to open the following week, making Taunton a centre of excellence in Somerset for cancer services and ending the need for patients to travel to Bristol for their planning and radiotherapy treatment.

The new centre would provide radiotherapy treatment for around 1,200 patients a year and included two linear accelerators, a chemotherapy suite for 22 patients, 10-bed inpatient ward, pharmacy, CT scanner and clinical trials facilities.

Beacon Centre directorate manager Babette Fuller said: “The turn out for the open day was brilliant.

“I spoke to a few people who asked if it met our expectations and I said it’s exceeded them.

"We are all very sensitive to our environments and I believe we’ve got the right balance of professionalism, confidence and reassurance in this building.

“We’ve also got a workforce that will deliver high quality care that complements the beautiful building we are in.

“To have the centre finally ready for opening is absolutely excellent.

“It has been years in the planning and everybody is overwhelmed and overjoyed."

In the ensuing years, the Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment (SURE) charity, the brainchild of the late Eric Saffin and others, has raised huge sums to help equip the centre.