On 21st April, the Barbour Foundation joined with the leadership team of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation along with many other donors and patrons for the groundbreaking ceremony at the Freeman hospital, marking the beginning of construction for the first of it’s kind institute.

The new facility will house the current Sir Bobby Robson Research Centre and the hospital’s cancer and blood disorders research team and enable a higher number of complex cancer trials, allowing for a 50% increase in activities over the next 5 years. This will help to develop innovative new cancer treatments that could benefit cancer patients globally as well as cover the catchment of over 3.5 million people across the Northeast, Cumbria and Yorkshire.

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation was set up in 2008 by Professor Ruth Plummer and Sir Bobby himself during his fifth battle with cancer with the aim of equipping a new cancer drug trials centre at the Northern Centre for Cancer Care. Within 7 weeks of launching their first appeal, the foundation raised the incredible £500,000 needed and the following year, the doors of the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre officially opened. Sir Bobby spent the remainder of his life raising funds to help others battle cancer and his work is still being carried on by his wife Lady Elsie, his sons Mark, Paul and Andrew and a host of committed trustees, patrons and of course, the football community.

Now, nearly 20 years on from the opening of the first centre, and with a growing demand for more research and trials, the foundation is looking to build the new institute to better aid the Northeast community and world at large.