CAMPAIGNERS trying to save Wyre Forest Birth Centre are celebrating smashing their target of getting 1,000 names on a petition - and have vowed to carry on rallying support.

Elizabeth Bytheway, who was featured on the front of last week's Shuttle/Times & News, says she is "delighted" that her petition urging chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, John Rostill, to reconsider his decision to close the facility has now been signed by 1,161 people.

An additional 136 names have been collected in the ante-natal clinic of the birth centre itself, while a further 40 forms are still on display in district sites including post offices, chip shops and pubs.

Mrs Bytheway and her team will start collecting them in on Wednesday after it was decided at a meeting with Wyre Forest MP, Dr Richard Taylor, that she would present the results to the hospitals trust and Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust on Monday, February 14.

Mr Rostill told the Shuttle/Times & News yesterday that he was "heartened" to see a "level of support that was not immediately apparent".

He said he had been given food for thought by several letters he had received which made some interesting and useful points that should be taken into account in the decision-making process.

"It's too early to say what impact any petition might have but what is clear is we're beginning to get a much more balanced discussion," he said, adding he would pass on the comments to the Strategic Health Authority, Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust and monitoring group.

He said he had also received correspondence from the Kidderminster branch of the National Childbirth Trust and had agreed to meet with members to discuss the inquiry report.