A PUBLIC meeting aimed at setting up an action group to keep the St John Ambulance HQ in Keighley has been called for this weekend It is being spearheaded by Keighley's Mayor Councillor Brian Hudson and scheduled to take place at 2pm, this Saturday, at the Russell Street HQ. Cllr Hudson said: "The meeting is open to anyone. We must keep the SJA in its base."

The campaign follows last week's Keighley News front page story which revealed St John Ambulance was looking to sell off the two-storey building.

Former cadets and officers have condemned the plans.

John Walsh, who joined the local division in the late 1940s and remained a member for 20 years, said he was "disgusted" to learn that its Russell Street headquarters was to shut.

This week Philip Gee, the executive director for St John Ambulance, South and West Yorkshire, said local members had been told in October 2006 that their building was unsuitable and that they should look for a new home.

In last week's KN he caused an outcry when he suggested the cadets could go to Bradford or Skipton bases for training. This week he admitted it was "fair" to suggest that the other headquarters were too far away for young cadets without transport.

However, he said he visited Keighley on Monday and was optimistic that the brigade would be able to hire a local venue for training.

Mr Walsh, 70, who lives in Bracken Bank Grove, said St John Ambulance's argument that Keighley members should travel ten miles to meetings in Bradford made no sense as the Bradford branch has fewer members than Keighley.

Ivy Aspinall, an officer of The Order of St John and a retired member of the St John Ambulance, said: "I have visited the SJA Bradford headquarters, which is not in Bradford centre, so private transport is needed to go there. Skipton's headquarters is also a distance from the bus station.

"Responsible parents would not wish their children to travel to either for training."

The Rev Brenda Sugden, a retired minister for the Trinity Baptist and United Reformed Church and former cadet who went on to be a nurse, said: "On the question of alternative accommodation, how many churches could find the space to house all the necessary equipment to train these willing and often courageous volunteers?"