"WOULD we do it again - of course we would" 

With those words Allan Lloyd left those assembled for the official opening of the county's own radiotherapy unit in no doubt as to the worth of his nine year £8 million fight.

That fight ended in July with a radiotherapy unit at Hereford County Hospital ready for its first patients.

The official opening of the unit last Friday was an occasion for Alan to reinforce what his fight had been about and who it was for.

Back in 2005, cancer patients from the county and beyond faced round trips of more than 200 miles for life-saving treatment at Cheltenham.

Allan's own experience of such journeys - 65 miles each way made over 18 consecutive days at peak - with his wife Angela under treatment  inspired the Hereford Times backed Cut the Misery Miles campaign.

At first, the idea of a unit was dismissed as not feasible, but the work of the Lloyds and the resulting coverage eventually saw the cause backed by health bosses.

In July, the Hereford Times reported on the unit being ready to take patients.

On Friday, Allan praised the paper's support - co-ordinated by then health reporter Liz Watkins and then editor Liz Griffin - without which, he said, the campaign couldn't have lasted over nine hard years.

Oncologist consultant Sam Guglani told Friday's audience that the  "passion" of those who championed the cause proved more powerful than the unit's technology.

Linked to the Macmillan Renton Unit at Hereford County Hospital, the radiotherapy  unit is run as a satellite of the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.