The huge crane currently dominating Hereford’s skyline is playing an important part in the story of a children’s charity.
Steel beams are being erected at the site off Berrington Street which will soon be the new home of The Little Princess Trust.
The new headquarters will be named the Hannah Tarplee Building and will welcome leading childhood cancer researchers from across the world who will give presentations on the findings from their studies that have been funded by the Hereford charity.
The Little Princess Trust was founded in 2006 in memory of Hannah. The Hereford Cathedral Junior School pupil was just five-years-old when she was diagnosed with a Wilms Tumour and her parents struggled to find a wig suitable for her during treatment.
Simon and Wendy felt the most fitting tribute to their daughter would be a charity dedicated to providing wigs to children who had lost their own hair to cancer and other illnesses – and The Little Princess Trust has since gone on to provide more than 10,000 wigs while also committing more than £12million to cancer research.
The name of the charity’s new headquarters will offer a permanent and proud reminder of its roots and its own ‘little princess’.
The plans for the new site also include a salon, which will enable children to have wigs styled and fitted on site, and a wig-making facility within the building that will resurrect the greatly-diminished craft of wig-making in the UK.
Phil Brace, Chief Executive of The Little Princess Trust, said the name of the new headquarters was a “wonderful legacy to Hannah and for her parents”.
The huge blue crane, which measures 35.2 metres, could be seen from many miles around as builders began moving the first steels into place this week.
CJ Bayliss, from Hereford, were appointed as the contractors to lead the project following an independent tender managed by RRA Architects.
It is hoped the new building will welcome staff and host its first conferences by the autumn of this year.
