THE future looks clear for Blackpool Victoria Hospital's new cancer unit as the first glass panel of the Millennium Walkway has been unveiled.

The panel is one of a number that will feature in a spectacular pathway leading to the new £2.9m cancer out-patient department currently being built at the hospital.

Hospital chairman Miss Beverly Lester unveiled the panel on April 22 which will be on public display in the X-ray central corridor until work on the cancer unit is complete.

Local businesses, schools, community groups and members of the public are all invited to buy a space on the panels for a specially etched message for future generations to see. All money raised from the Walkway will go directly to the Macmillan Windmill Appeal, which is raising the £2.9m needed for the cancer development.

Although the unit is currently being constructed, fund-raisers still need to raise the remaining £1.4m to hit their goal.

Prices for a message on the Millennium Walkway range from £50 to £5,000 or £2,000 for smaller corporate or individual panels, plus an additional charge for etching.

Companies who have already pledged their support include Bacta, Toms Confectionery Ltd and ITM Communications.

Macmillan Appeal director Elaine Fossett said: "The idea of a Millennium Walkway has produced a fund-raising initiative that will not only benefit people living with cancer, but will also provide the new cancer out-patient department with an artistically designed area of beauty which the community can appreciate now and in the future.

"There is now a golden opportunity for the public to view the first panel to see just how spectacular they are. We urgently need more people to support this initiative and we would urge people to get in touch with their walkway messages as soon as possible."

The cancer unit is expected to be completed by November and will be ready to take in its first patients in January 2003.

It will provide improved facilities including private treatment rooms, state-of-the-art equipment and an information centre for patients and their families.