UNDER threat for several years, the Chiswick Lodge Hospital of Netheravon Road South is set to finally shut down in two months time.

The Lodge's history is long and varied. Donated in perpetuity' by Dan Mason, in 1911, it was originally just a local cottage hospital before being changed to a maternity hospital.

Medical students have also had the benefit of using the Lodge, whilst a great deal of filming has also gone on, most famously An American Werewolf in London', but also Norman Wisdom and Benny Hill shows.

Most recently it has served as accommodation to mentally and terminally ill patients. Alzheimers sufferers and patients with Motor Neurone Disease, some as young as in their 20s, have used the lodge as a home.

Additionally, up to 60 elderly day patients visited each day.

Now that is being taken away, Dorothy Bartram, who worked at the hospital for 17 years and is now Public Officer of the Friends of Chiswick Lodge', is worried about the 33 current Alzheimers and 11 MND patients: "Already the Alzheimers sufferers are being moved to Ealing, and those with MND will be going to Putney." But the latter is only a day-care centre, as opposed to the lodge's permanent residency. There is therefore an obvious concern for the patients, with the stress of moving also a risk to their health.

Those involved with the campaign are especially disappointed that the only way they find out about the threat of closure is second hand. Mrs Bartram said: "We never hear directly from the Health Authority or Trust. We hear news from patients' visitors, for example."

Mrs Bartram believes the reasons for shutting it down do not take heed of the community and its requirements: "The Council will probably make it into flats or something like that. The building must be very valuable.

"If the hospital has to be shut down, then the building should at least be used for an old people's home. There are lots of needy people in the community."

A spokesman for the local Mental Health Trust and the Borough Council said: "We have no plans for this site it is likely to be sold."

This is not the first time that the Lodge has been under threat.

On two occasions it seemed certain to shut down, but petitions twice saved it. Mrs Bartram ran one of these with Winifred Voles, nicknamed Wonder Win', now deceased: "We took it as far as we could, to the Council, and we won against the odds."

Now the Friends of Chiswick Lodge' are working alongside the Campaign to Save Chiswick Lodge' to try and save the hospital.

Donations can be sent to: The Campaign to Save Chiswick Lodge, Netheravon Road South, Chiswick, London, W4 2PZ.

Alternatively, if you feel you could help in any way, write to: Save Chiswick Lodge Action Group, 115 Airedale Avenue, London W4 2PX.