Give a hand here

SAVE Hinchingbrooke Hospital campaigners will be at the site on Sunday, November 19, holding hands around it in a gesture of solidarity. And a second march in protest at the threat to services is to be staged in February. More than 1,000 people turned ou

SAVE Hinchingbrooke Hospital campaigners will be at the site on Sunday, November 19, holding hands around it in a gesture of solidarity.

And a second march in protest at the threat to services is to be staged in February.

More than 1,000 people turned out for the first march on October 7.

Sunday's three-hour family event - there will be face-painting, a colouring competition, fancy dress, a scavenger hunt and a bouncy castle in Hinchingbrooke country park - will culminate in a human ring around the complex.

"We don't know how many people will turn up or what the weather will be like," said organiser Mike Gough, a branch secretary in the trade union Unison.

"We are aiming at least to form a ring around the treatment centre but, if more people want to join in, we'll aim to get round as much of the site as we can.

"Many people in the district were born there or had their children there, so they have a strong interest in saving their hospital," he added.

The march will be on February 17 in the middle of the strategic health authority's consultation on the future of services provided by Hinchingbrooke.

Marchers will set off in four directions - from Hartford, the Stukeleys, Godmanchester and Brampton - to converge on the hospital site.

"We hope that the public will join us and hope it is a march to signify the support the public give the hospital and to support it as it moves forward for future generations," Mr Gough said.

INFORMATION: Entry to the events in the country park on Sunday is free. They start

at midday and are scheduled to end at

3pm. The hand-holding ring is set for 2.30pm.