Shock and anger has been expressed by dozens of callers to the Ross Gazette distraught to learn that 'Ross on Wye's own home for older people' is to close.
Twenty years after a hard fought campaign by locals to save the Chestnuts from closure it has fallen victim to 'government policy' according to the Trustees who run it.
Sir Colin Shepherd, former MP and the patron of the Chestnuts, has summed up the feeling of everyone who has contacted the Ross Gazette when he said:?"I am deeply saddened by the news that The Chestnuts is to close. I want to pay tribute to the management team and the wonderful staff who have made the place so special."
But he added that the committee had found itself in an impossible situation.
The Chestnuts Home for the Elderly is a charity run by a committee who act as trustees. They have issued a press statement which they asked to be published in its entirety. As it is so long we are unable to publish it in the paper but it is available to be read in full on the Gazette website, http://www.ross-gazette.co.uk">www.ross-gazette.co.uk. Read the full story in this week's Gazette.