Leading cancer hospital is just one of many things Sheffield can be proud of

Could you really replicate the Sheffield humour/banter and, of course, the dialect that mesmerises those unfortunate not to have lived here, or have mastered it on arrival.

However we have our failings, we don’t feel the need to publicise how good we are, and that without the discovery of stainless steel or writing the rules of football, the world would have seriously lost out.

Once, while researching Westfield Health’s centenary, I discovered a interesting article from the front page of The Star in the 1920s: The City Fathers do not wish an Aerodrome as it would attract undesirables. That says a lot about our insularity then.

We have much to be proud of, the advanced manufacturing and wellbeing research centres and, not least, the oldest football club in the world.

Our two universities, whose reputations bring many from overseas to study – and what an endorsement when after graduating they decide to live and work among us.

Some world-renowned clinicians and staff in our local NHS who have served us well and, while we highlight lives lost recently, how many have they saved by their skill and dedication while putting their own lives at risk?

This year is Weston Park Hospital’s 50th anniversary and, being one of only four national cancer hospitals, we are fortunate to have their expertise on our doorstep.

It attracts some world-renowned researchers/oncologists who relish the challenge of serving the one in every two of us who will sadly get cancer.

Their expert care is complemented by St Luke’s Hospice and Cavendish Cancer Care.

While the temptation to retire elsewhere is high, it is sadly where medical back up in our old age is often less than we would get here in Sheffield.

So, as we celebrate Weston Park’s Hospital‘s birthday, it reminds us what we owe to them being there for us when we and our families need the most.

It must be good for me to expose to myself to ridicule by taking part in their annual infamous stand-up comedy fundraising event.

I don’t have Dr Kash’s medical experience or, as I found to my cost, his stand-up comedy prowess either.