Kettering breast cancer centre gets a 'facelift'

Glennis Hooper (middle front) thanked everyone who made the project possible

Work has started to create a "tranquil and peaceful" waiting area at a hospital's breast cancer treatment centre.

Glennis Hooper, who helped raise funds for the facility, said the area at Kettering General Hospital, Northamptonshire, needed "sprucing up".

The breast cancer survivor was the founder of the charity Crazy Hats Appeal in 2001, and it has donated £390,000 to the project.

It would also be landscaped, she added.

The new lounge and waiting area will be built by infilling a small outside quadrangle area in the centre of the Treatment Centre, the hospital said

The new area, due to open in May, was paid for with the final donation made by the Crazy Hats Appeal ahead of the charity's closure in June.

It raised about £3.5m over its 20 years.

Ms Hooper, a former head teacher, said the project would "help to make the experience of attending hospital appointments, at what can be a worrying time, that bit easier".

"For us it is the culmination of a long journey of support for breast care patients and of support for Kettering General Hospital," she said.

By 2018, Ms Hooper said she noticed the waiting area "was beginning to look 'tired' and so started the idea of "sprucing it up".

"As a result we will be giving a much-needed facelift to the hospital's waiting area - creating a calm, tranquil and peaceful area for both patients and staff," she said.

Crazy Hats Appeal staged 17 sponsored walks in Wicksteed Park, Kettering during its lifetime