A PETITION to save the beds at Bordon's Chase Community Hospital was handed to the primary care trust cluster last Friday, after accruing more than 3,000 signatures.

But at the same time the chairman of the Chase Hospital League of Friends, Dr Frank Williams-Thomas, who was instrumental in the creation of the petition, resigned after what he described as "ridiculous behaviour" in the group.

East Hampshire district councillor Yvonne Parker-Smith, the president of the League, said she was left "embarrassed" by the submission of the petition to the NHS Southampton, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth Primary Care Trust Cluster because she had thought the district council would debate it at a full council meeting on October 25 before deciding what action to take.

For full story, see this week's Bordon Herald.