Kirkcaldy Maggie's Centre

2007 has been a pretty busy year so far. That is my very poor excuse for not adding a post about our visit to the new Maggie's Centre in the grounds of the Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy a few weeks ago. Maggie's held a series of information evenings at its centres for those interested in signing up or for those who had already taken the plunge.

I have mixed memories of the Victoria. I had my adenoids out when I was wee and lost my first tooth when in residence at the Vic (amazingly the tooth fairly was able to retrieve my tooth from the drain pipe and leave 50p under my pillow - thanks nurse!).

But the Vic was where my dad was admitted to during his illness after he caught a blood infection and was in there for about a week. We joked that he was nearly on the penthouse floor (the hospital is a high-rise and my dad was up near the top with cracking views across Kirkcaldy and beyond). I was always able to laugh and crack a few jokes when I was visiting but it was a different story when walking back to the car park. Dad would wave to us from the window, probably making sure we were ok. You would put a brave face on and wave back enthusiastically, but it was breaking your heart inside. Saying that, I know it would have been far worse for my dad. When we visited the centre for the info night, I looked up and saw an empty window, though in my mind, I was sure he was waving back at me...

The Kirkcaldy centre is an amazing looking building. It was designed by Zaha Hadid and despite being based in London, the centre is her first building in the UK. For more info Google, Zaha Hadid and Maggie's - there are lots of good stories which chart the buildings development from conception to construction.

A big thank you to Elizabeth Adams, the centre's community fundraiser, for giving us a tour of the centre and to Murray Easton for answering all our questions - filling us with equal doses of dread and eager anticipation! The appearance of the building, inside and out, bares little resemblance to the Edinburgh centre I have visited several times, but both are inspirational places and you feel a million miles away from the hospital environment. Its great that the people of Fife now have such a facility on their doorstep.

The getting fit part of the Bike and Hike and the physical challenge are both really good incentives but helping to raise money to fund the centres' activities and to help build new ones are even more of a motivation.

Pic courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/11/04/bazaha04.xml