A busy morning in the office and then down to Weymouth to visit the newly renovated Slug & Lettuce in St Thomas Street. The boss, Keith Treggiden, found himself caught in traffic, so I chatted to his no 2 who could not have been more accommodating. After learning about the business and how it was going, I left and joined one of our councillors for a cup of tea. Most welcome. Later it was up to All Saints' Church on Portland for the public meeting I had organised. My thanks must go to the Team Rector, the Reverend Tim Gomm, who generously allowed me to use the church, which can seat several hundred people. It had not been easy to find an appropriate venue on the island and certainly one that could accommodate the many hundreds that I anticipated could attend. During another public meeting several years ago to discuss the future of Swanage Hospital - which I had not organised - over 100 people could not get into the theatre, which caused immense anger and frustration. To avoid this happening, I had booked the Pavilion Theatre, which I cancelled once All Saints had been secured. The CEO of the Trust in charge of community hospitals, Ron Shields, had accepted my invitation to speak to residents on the island. The meeting lasted 90 minutes and was helpful, I think, in ensuring residents learnt the facts about the closure of beds at Portland Hospital. Many questions were asked and all were answered by Mr Shields in a courteous and detailed way. The simple fact is that he does not have enough staff nurses to man both Portland and Westhaven, so one has to go. Mr Shields explained that there would be a new medical hub on the island, a location yet to be decided. But he said he would be talking to islanders about this and that the hospital will remain open, with all the other services still located there.