Like the rest of the country, we have been celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with a "street party" in our fabulously decorated restaurant and by giving babies born at this special time a diamond jubilee coin and other mementos. It is amazing to think how many advances there have been in the care of women and babies since Her Majesty's Coronation sixty years ago, including the care of premature babies.
This last week, we have said goodbye to a man who has made a major contribution over the last decades to help transform the care of neonates. Professor Richard Cooke was a pioneer in neonatal care in the city, becoming the first Consultant Neonatologist in 1980 and single-handedly setting up a special care baby unit at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, Oxford Street, in the early 1980s. He leaves behind a neonatal unit which is now the largest in Europe and famous worldwide for its research, as is Professor Cooke. There are thousands of former premature babies celebrating this Jubilee Weekend who might not have survived but for the early work of Professor Cooke. We thank him and wish him well.