WILL Fairfield Hospital be allowed to retain its maternity department and special care baby unit? The decision is expected tomorrow.

We look back at the arguments for and against, and how a small band of parents stoked up one of the Bury's biggest-ever campaigns.

WHEN a group of parents heard rumours that the special care baby unit, which saved their babies' lives, was to close, they refused to take it quietly and vowed to fight back.

Little did they realise that, more than two years later, they would be looking back on one of the biggest protest campaigns Bury has seen, supported by tens of thousands of people.

Now the Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society (FBLS) await tomorrow's decision to see if it has all been worth it.

Trustee member Sharron Entwistle said: "We never thought it would get to this stage. We thought it would be five or six of us cutting out placards but people started phoning the unit to offer support and my phone was ringing 30, 40 times a day."

The society set up the Babies First campaign after leaked documents indicated Fairfield was to be targeted under proposals being developed by the Children and Young People's Network. On July 12, 2004, the announcement came that, if the plans got the go-ahead, the special care baby unit (SCBU) would close, mothers would no longer be able to stay overnight after giving birth and anyone needing special care would be transferred to another hospital. The plans sparked outrage and the Babies First campaign was officially launched with a public meeting at Bury Town Hall in September 2004. More than 400 people crammed into the Elizabethan Suite to listen to the panel, led by FBLS chairman Dr Said Hany, Paul Reynolds, chief officer of the former Bury Community Health Council, and Vera Stringer, acting chairman of the former Bury NHS Trust.

Jo James, FBLS member and panel member said: "Steven Price and Chris Appleby from the Pennine Acute Trust came and I think it was at that point they realised they had a fight on their hands, that it was going to be huge and not go away overnight. People began to realise we were a group to be reckoned with. The depth of feeling was unbelievable." Donna Shepherd, FBLS member, added: "There was so much talk but no one else was doing anything apart from the Fairfield Baby Lifeline Society. It was after the public meeting that we felt we were given the responsibility to keep going." Within weeks, plans were in place for a protest march through Bury town centre and to Kay Gardens where a rally would take place. It was led by MPs and Bury councillors and more than 4,000 took part, carrying placards and banners demanding that health officials answer the question: "Why Bury?"

Sharron said: "We were just hoping people were going to turn up. We kept asking ourselves are people going to know where we are? And then, on that morning, I had such butterflies in my stomach worrying what if people didn't turn up. So, when we started seeing people coming in their crowds, we were just beaming."

The society collected more than 38,000 signatures against the proposals and, in October 2004, within a week of the march, health chiefs performed a U-turn by withdrawing the original plans and stating more detailed work needed to be done.

It was then a case of waiting to see what the next move would be. But, in April 2005, the campaign was dealt a major blow with the death of Paul Reynolds. This was followed four months later with news that Dr Hany had suffered a heart attack and would have to take a back seat.

Jo said: "It was a massive blow because we lost two people who knew so much more than we knew and had the experience to go with it."

In July 2005, the Making it Better plans were put back on the table proposing how many hospitals across Greater Manchester should have certain services without naming specific sites. Then, in November 2005, the announcement came that Fairfield was once again targeted for closure. None of the options put forward included the Rochdale Old Road hospital maintaining its services.

Donna said: "They had kept us waiting and waiting and that was difficult for us because we were losing momentum and the public interest."

The society spent the next few months of the formal public consultation holding roadshows urging the public to fill in the response forms and immediately made plans for a second public meeting. On February 7, 2006, more than 200 supporters returned to Bury Town Hall to listen to statements read by doctors and midwives expressing outrage at proposals to close the maternity department. This was followed by another protest march in April where, despite torrential rain, more than 2,000 once again marched. Members of FBLS then travelled to the head offices of the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority in an open-top double decker bus to deliver a petition with 38,000 signatures.

Sharron said: "It was another fabulous day and people yet again turned out to support us. It was throwing it down with rain and we did not know if anyone would show but they did."

Then, in September, came the news campaigners were waiting for when health bosses admitted they had been surprised at the level of public response and announced an extra five options - three of them allowing Fairfield to keep its maternity department. Tomorrow, the joint committee of primary care trusts will finally decide which option is given the stamp of approval and if the campaign has been a success.

Dr Hany said: "The people of Bury are so generous towards this unit and supportive of us and we thank them all. The support of the nursing staff from the special care baby unit, midwives and other ward staff throughout the campaign has been fantastic."

Sharron added: "We got out there and showed them we were not just going to let them get away with it. It is the biggest consultation in the NHS and they actually listened to us to include Fairfield.

"I ask myself if we had not got together and set up Babies First, what would be happening now? Would someone else have done something or would they have just let them shut the unit?

"Even if we lose the unit, we are just a group of parents and clinicians who have made history in Bury, which nobody can take away from us.

"No one can say we could have done more."