Tributes to 'astounding' Kettering GP Peter McCormick who saved hundreds of lives

Tributes have been paid to a former Kettering GP who has died aged 83 after devoting his retirement to helping some of the poorest children in the world with lifesaving treatments.

Mancunian Dr Peter McCormick, not only worked as a doctor but was a church organist, owned a traction engine and once trekked across Lapland - but it was his work treating childhood cancers in Africa that he carried out to the end of his life.

His achievements were recognised by Kettering Civic Society in 2020 when they awarded him the Silver Rose Bowl for his humanitarian work in a ceremony at his Warkton home.

And although it is his work helping the most poor people in the world that will be his legacy, son Richard says that he was more than that.

He said: "We are extraordinarily proud of what he achieved but to us he was just dad, even with all his weird quirks, he was just dad."

Dr McCormick moved to Kettering to work as a GP at the Dryland Surgery, spending 26 years there from 1969 to 1995.

When his first wife Beryl died he was left looking after daughter Leanne. A second marriage to fellow GP Dr Jennifer Moore produced two sons, Richard and David.

After early retirement, he first trekked across Lapland on skis, hauling a sledge and raising £3,000 for Save the Children in Kettering.

He then returned to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and gained a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene which he used in his humanitarian work in West Africa, treating childhood cancers.

It was one of his former patients, Anita Smith, who had been to visit Dr McCormick on his last day as a GP who inspired him to visit Africa. At the hospital in The Gambia which she had been supporting since 1992, he accepted the role as medical advisor for her charity the Bansang Hospital Appeal (BHA).

While working as a general paediatrician in The Gambia and Ghana, he observed the poor or absent treatment of childhood cancers including Burkitt's Lymphoma, a cancer of the face.

Knowing he could make a real difference to children's lives, he settled as a volunteer in paediatric oncology in Cameroon, founding the Beryl Thyer Memorial Africa Trust, a charity named after his late sister.

Paying tribute fellow GP the Rev Dr John Smith said: "Peter was both a friend and medical colleague. Many of us in the profession start out wanting to make a difference - few of us do but Peter did. His pioneering work in Africa working with children with cancer saved so many lives, giving hope where there was none.

"Peter was simply astounding. The charity that he established allows this to continue, that will be his legacy."

Richard McCormick said: "Firstly he saw the opportunity to make a difference by supporting children. He went where he was needed. When he first went he could get a 60 per cent cure rate for about £60 per child. In the UK you would get an 80 per cent cure rate fir £45,000 per child.

"His passion until the day he died was working for the children of Cameroon, for children with cancer. We as trustees of the charity we will continue his work.

"The merciful part was his illness was only nine months. He was going full tilt until that point, then he just slowed down a little. He wasn't going out to Africa but he was always on his computer and hands on until the end.

"How can you sum it all up? We have been inundated with tributes to be read out at his funeral."

Dr McCormick's funeral will take place at the church where he played the organ - learning the instrument in the last ten years, switching his piano playing skills with dedicated and regular practise.

His funeral service will be held on Tuesday, December 14, at 11am at St Edmund's Church in Warkton with donations to the Beryl Thyer Trust in lieu of flowers.

For more information about the work of the Beryl Thyer Trust and how to donate to the charity please click here.