Stafford Hospital protest: One month in and determined as ever
Dozens of tents pitched side-by-side, anyone would think this was the scene from a music festival.
However it's anything but. This is the Support Stafford Hospital protest camp and as it enters its second month, the temporary site is rapidly filling up.
Five new arrivals pitched up over the weekend - taking the total number of tents up to 50 - and campaigners say the mood is still upbeat one month in.
There are pensioners, children and even babies staying on the site - jokingly dubbed Stafford on Sea by its inhabitants - all with a shared aim of saving the much-loved but troubled hospital.
Support Stafford Hospital leading campaigner Julian Porter said: "We joke that it's Stafford on Sea. The atmosphere is great. We're like one big family.
"We've been here four weeks now and we've had five new additions on the camp over the weekend alone. There are more of us here now than at any point over the last month. There were only 12 tents on the first day.
"New arrivals give us a boost. They bring new stories and experiences about the hospital to the table.
"We've joked we should have diverted the signs for V Festival to us and more campers could come. We will stay here for as long as it takes. No-one has asked us to leave.
"Patients are coming down to us to get involved and staff have been bringing down cars and postcards offering their support."
Mr Porter said the campers were as determined as ever to stick it out and maintain a presence at the site until health bosses make a u-turn on certain decisions.
"We are not asking for the whole hospital to stay as it is," he continued. "We are asking for simple things like an overnight children's ward and consultant led maternity.
"Instead of reducing in size it is just getting bigger and bigger."
New camper Chris Watt from Stafford arrived on Sunday with his pregnant wife Ceri and three-year-old daughter) Amalie. Mr Watt, aged 36, said he was there to add his support to the fight.
"The campaigners are prepared to be here for as long as it takes," he said. "We'll be dipping in and out to show our support.
"My wife is due to give birth in December. There were complications when she had Amalie. I wouldn't want her facing the prospect of going to Stoke if there were problems this time around."
Another of the new faces at the campsite is mother-of-three Ali Draper from Stafford. She pitched up at the site on Saturday morning.
The 58-year-old, who works as an anthropologist, said: "I popped onto the site about eight times but this is the first time I've stayed over.
"It's incredible what has been created here. It's not easy to form a community like this.
"I live in Stafford so I'm directly affected by changes made at the hospital.
"And with all this talk about thousands of new homes having to be built in the next 10 years, we should not be talking about removing services, we should be talking about what extra stuff we need."
Last weekend other NHS protest groups from around the country descended on the camp for a barbecue, including members of Save the Alex in Redditch and the Lewisham People Before Profit group. Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy also attended the event.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt approved the measures to strip services from the troubled hospital. It came after a critical public inquiry.
The protest comes after it emerged that two applications to launch legal bids against the downgrading of the hospital have been rejected.
The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust said it had received reassurances from organisers that there would be no disruption to patients or visitors and was not increasing security.
