THE Rolling Stones’ guitarist, Keith Richards, turned back the clock to the protest days when he joined a rally yesterday against cuts at his local hospital, writes Maurice Chittenden.

It was not quite Street Fighting Man and the student riots of the 1960s, but Richards joined 10,000 people in a march to save the appropriately named St Richard’s hospital in Chichester, West Sussex.

Richards, 63, wore a trade-mark skull scarf and waved a pink flag as he lent his support to a campaign to save the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and maternity services.

Richards, who suffered a head injury after falling out of a tree in Fiji last year, told the rally that the Sussex hospital had saved the lives of his loved ones.

“I have used St Richard’s a couple of times myself and it has saved a couple of lives on my behalf. Why are we talking about downgrading St Richard’s? We should be talking about upgrading it,” he said.

Stabbing a finger at the nearby Chichester cathedral, he added: “There’s a big building over there called the cathedral that will look after you in the hereafter. St Richard’s will take care of you in the here and now.”

He waved to cheering crowds and ended his speech with a reference to the hospital carrying his name. “I’m saving up for my halo,” he said.

Richards, who has had a £1.5m moated home in nearby West Wittering for 40 years, was joined at the rally by Lauren Minto, 6, who was born with mis-aligned feet and has undergone a series of operations at the hospital to correct her walk. If the hospital loses its acute services unit she faces a 40-minute drive to a hospital in Portsmouth.

Another marcher, John Murray, 63, said: “I’m the same age as Keith so I was surprised to see how well he looked - particularly as he hasn’t quit the fags. Still it’s great that he came along and supported his local hospital.”

The rally was organised by the Support St Richard’s group. Over the past year supporters have included Sir Paul McCartney, Des Lynam, Dame Vera Lynn and Christopher Timothy, the actor who played the vet James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small.

It is not the first time that Richards has fought local authority. In 2002 he successfully campaigned to save an acre of woodland near his home because bats roosted in the trees.

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