THE former boss of a major Preston building firm has been cured of cancer thanks to a pioneering new treatment.

Patrick Conlon, 69, who established Conlon Construction Ltd, in Bamber Bridge, with his four brothers, went through a revolutionary painless treatment to beat skin cancer.

Mr Conlon, whose firm is responsible for hundreds of major developments in this area, contracted the disease as a result of over-exposure to the sun throughout his building days.

But now he has made a full recovery and enjoying retirement with his wife Bernadette and family.

Mr Conlon, from Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley, said, "I am very fair skinned and never used to wear a hat to protect myself from the sun. Today everyone working on a building site has to wear a hard hat by law. But I now always wear a hat whenever I am out in the sun as well as a high factor sun block cream. I am very careful in the sun."

The father-of-five developed a cancerous lesion on his scalp some time ago -- about the size of a golf ball -- and feared the worse.

So when specialists at the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, Cheshire, offered him the painless new 'Magic Lantern' treatment the retired building boss was more than happy to give it a go.

It involved applying a special cream to the affected area and exposing it to a pure non-laser red light. The light destroys the diseased cells with little effect on the surrounding healthy tissue.

Mr Conlon saw a improvement in his condition after the first session and only needed one more dose of the cancer-curing treatment in order to beat the disease.

Since retiring from the building trade seven years ago, leaving his company in the hands of his daughters, Theresa Noblett as chairman and director, and Maureen Boland as director and human resources manager, Mr Conlon has developed a taste for walking, gardening and golf.

Since it was established in 1961 Conlon Construction Ltd, of Charnley Fold Lane, Bamber Bridge, has helped to change the face of Preston and South Ribble.

With Mr Conlon at the helm the firm helped to build Preston by-pass from Bamber Bridge to Broughton, which became the first part of the M6, Britain's first motorway.

More recently the firm has renovated the Corn Exchange, Lune Street, Preston, and built both Pizza Express and Indigo Bar, in Winckley Street, Preston. The firm is also responsible for the nurses' residences at the Royal Preston Hospital.