Minister for Health and Social Services, Edwina Hart AM, and key supporters of Maggie’s South West Wales gathered at the site to celebrate this pivotal day for people affected by cancer across the region. Set to open towards the end of 2011, Maggie’s South West Wales will provide emotional and practical support to the estimated 20,000 people in the region living with cancer, plus to their friends and family.

Mrs Hart turned the soil before being presented with a gift by Maggie’s CEO, Laura Lee, to acknowledge the £1.5million match funding from WAG towards the capital costs of Maggie’s South West Wales.

The Assembly Government committed to the match funding in 2009 after Mrs Hart visited Maggie’s South West Wales interim facility at Singleton Hospital in summer 2008.

Mrs Hart said: “My visit to Maggie’s interim facility two years ago was enlightening. Almost everyone will have been touched by cancer or know someone who has. Figures suggest that one in three people in Wales will develop some form of cancer during their lives. I’ve visited the current facilities before to see the care and support on offer to patients and their family and friends at this most difficult time. I heard first hand about the experiences of people there and was heartened to hear about the support, friendship and hope offered to them. I was therefore delighted to commit Assembly Government funding to the project and am pleased to mark the construction getting underway on the permanent Maggie’s Centre, which will offer support to thousands more people.”

Maggie’s interim service at Singleton Hospital - which opened in early 2007 and will remain open throughout the building work - received more than 2,700 visits in 2009, equating to a daily average of 11 visitors. The uniquely designed permanent centre, which will be based next to the oncology facilities at Singleton Hospital, is expected to receive at least 10,000 visitors per annum within three years of opening, and accommodate up to 50-60 daily visits. Maggie’s supports people with any type of cancer and their family and friends at any stage of their illness.

Maggie’s South West Wales is designed by one of the world’s leading architects – the late Kisho Kurokawa, who died in 2007. The design for the building, which will be welcoming, uplifting and domestic in scale, was provided pro bono by Dr Kurokawa, who was a friend of Maggie’s founder, Maggie’s Keswick Jencks.

Maggie’s CEO Laura Lee said: “It is a momentous day for Maggie’s as we commence building work on the first Maggie’s Centre in Wales, following on from our successful centres in England and Scotland. We have been fundraising in the region for a number of years and it is great that supporters from across the region can now witness the fruition of all their hard work. The biggest thank you must go to the Welsh Assembly for putting the care of people affected by cancer first by funding Wales’ first ever Maggie’s Centre. During our fundraising campaign we have constantly been inspired by stories of local people who have been affected by cancer and our interim facility has helped so many of those people. The new architecturally designed Maggie’s will develop the great foundations that our interim centre has established by offering a permanently inspiring space tailored to the needs of those facing one of life’s most challenging diseases.”

Maggie’s South West Wales has received financial support from the Jane Hodge Foundation, the Monument Trust, the Big Lottery Fund, the Laura Ashley Foundation, the Newman’s Own Foundation and many other supporters drawn from the local community in Swansea and other parts of South West Wales.

Maggie’s South West Wales is the second centre to be built under the Joy of Living Fundraising Campaign, which launched in 2007 with the aim of raising £15million to build five centres across England and Wales.

The development of Maggie’s South West Wales is supported by the ABM University Health Board, as well as the South West Wales Cancer Network and representatives of local patient and carer groups. The building has full planning consent from the City and County of Swansea, and has been praised by the Design Commission for Wales.

Maggie’s Centres believe in the power of architecture to lift people’s spirits, with each centre uniquely designed by a leading architect. Dr Kurokawa’s design is based on the concept of the cosmic whirlpool, representing a strong symbol of life, with everlasting forces swirling around a still centre. The managing architects seeing the building through to final completion are Garbers and James. The gardens and landscaping are designed by Kim Wilkie.

...ENDS...

For more media information please contact Adam Hollier on 0207 386 3523.

Notes to Editors

• Maggie’s is a charity that helps people to build a life beyond cancer. One in three people in the UK will develop cancer in their lifetime. Our programme of support helps people to manage the impact of a diagnosis of cancer and live with hope and determination.

• Maggie’s Centres are built alongside cancer hospitals and work hand-in-hand with the NHS to complement medical treatment. Our unique centres create calm and uplifting spaces where anyone affected by any type of cancer can go for help. Through professionally trained staff we offer people with cancer, their families and friends the tools they need to live as well as possible.

• When Maggie Keswick Jencks was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 1993 she had a vision of a cancer caring centre, where anyone affected by cancer would be able to find the support they needed, free of charge, right by the hospital. The first Maggie’s Centre was opened in 1996, the year after she died. There are now six purpose-built Maggie’s Centres in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, the Highlands, Fife and London, with interim services in Lanarkshire, Oxford and South West Wales. Maggie’s Cheltenham, is due to open next month.

• Registered Charity Number: SC024414. For further information: www.maggiescentres.org