About Maggie's

History of Maggie's Centres

Maggie’s is a place for people who have cancer and their families and friends.  It was founded by Maggie Keswick-Jencks and guided by her experience as a cancer patient.

After receiving her diagnosis, Maggie found she had many questions:

How am I going to deal with this?
What are the questions that I should have asked my doctor, but didn’t?
Who am I going to turn to?
I will be having medical treatment, but is there anything else I can do to make myself better?

Maggie had no prior knowledge of cancer and found herself being given bewildering fragments of advice from many different sources outside the hospital.

She felt that people like herself would benefit from a Centre that would enable them to address all aspects of living with cancer and inform themselves about the medical realities of the disease.

This led her to develop the blueprint for a Centre where people could access emotional and psychological support and information in a relaxed and homely environment.  She died in 1995 and the Centre she envisaged opened in 1996.  Today the Maggie’s Keswick Jencks Cancer Caring Centres Trust has gone on to open a further 4 Centres, with 7 more in the pipeline, accessible to anyone affected by cancer.

The goal of Maggie’s Centres is to keep people who have cancer as healthy in mind and body as possible, by enabling them to participate actively in the treatment of their disease.  

Maggie’s is not an alternative to regular medical treatment, but an important partnership with your doctor, you will feel more hopeful, less isolated and more in control of your situation.

Maggie's Centre Network

Maggie's Centre network continues to evolve.  There are five Centres open in Scotland and three interim services operational in Scotland, England and Wales.  Maggie's London opened in Spring 2008 and there are a further 6 purpose built Centres planned for completion by 2012.

The first five Centres

The first Maggie’s Centre, designed by Richard Murphy, opened at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in 1996.  By 1999 it had become apparent that the Centre needed to expand and so an extension was planned and built.  Today the Edinburgh Centre is very well used and has 17,000 visits a year.

David Page of Glasgow based architects Page and Park designed the second Maggie’s Centre at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow.  This Centre opened in Autumn 2002 and the following September saw the opening of the Frank Gehry's designed Centre at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee. 

Page & Park designed the fourth Centre at Riagmore Hospital in Inverness which opened in June 2005, followed by the Zaha Hadid designed fifth Centre at Victoria Hospital in Fife in November 2006.

The interim services

Maggie's Centres in Lanarkshire, South West Wales and Oxford are all currently running an interim service whilst the plans and design for the Centres are progressed.  This means you can visit and talk to a cancer support specialist and join a support group or course as you would in any other Maggie’s Centre.

Due for completion by 2012

Two of the interim services – South West Wales and Oxford – along with Cotswolds, Nottingham and North East England are due to be completed by 2012.  Together, these five Centres form the Joy of Living campaign that aims to raise £15 million to fund their build and running costs.

Maggie's Events

Maggie's relies on donations from and fundraising by the general public.  We run a variety of major events and fundraising activities to further increase the Maggie's network of Centres and number of people affected by cancer we can support.

The Maggie’s Monster Bike and Hike event began in 2003.  It has proved to be hugely successful and has raised over £2.2 million from 2,600 participants.

London Night Hike, in partnership with Open House, started in September 2004.  To date 2,600 people have walked the 17 miles of the circle line overground and between them have raised £1.1 million.

Maggie’s MegaHike kicked off in June 2006.  Another firm favourite with those who love a challenge it has raised £500,000 and had more than 1,100 people take part.

All three events now run annually. For further details visit the events pages.