I HAVE lived in the Lowercroft area of Bury, near the Bolholt Hotel and Walshaw Parish Church, since January, 1971.

I have enjoyed living in this busy town on the fringes of the densely populated Manchester conurbation.

I overheard a conversation in the gynaecology and antenatal department at Fairfield that the baby unit was finally going to close.

The news was verified on the front of the Bury Times.

I think it is disgraceful that the majority of local politicians and councillors have not supported the movement to save our hospital wards at Fairfield.

The citizens of Bury need this unit. If this hospital closes in the near future, mothers will have to take long journeys in cars and ambulances through heavy traffic in the urban areas of Bolton and Oldham.

Babies, mothers, and dangerously ill patients will die en route on the motorways.

I have nothing but praise for the paramedics, the A&E team, and the staff on Ward 19, who saved my life, when I was in a coma before Christmas, 2010.

I have been particularly impressed with every male nurse who attended me. A joke always makes me feel better.

A recent overnight stay on Ward 8 after an operation was better than staying in a good hotel. The food was excellent. The beds were changed every day. The cleaners were so thorough and efficient that you could have eaten your meals off the floor.

Apart from lines going into my hands and feet just before the operation, I experienced no pain, as I had a nerve block in my shoulder and was given a morphine drip. I was rather upset the day after the operation when I was told I could go home!

Other good experiences in the past have been with the Popham Cancer Screening Centre, the eye clinic, and the surgical ward. In all these, the staff were usually cheerful and efficient.

Bury citizens deserve their own hospital. They should all fight tooth and nail to preserve all the facilities at Fairfield, in spite of the present economic climate.

Maria Atkinson Bury