THE decision to temporarily shut Huddersfield's neo-natal care unit will be a blow to many families.
They face travelling to and from Halifax as their tiny babies are given urgent, specialist round-the-clock care.
And although health chiefs insist it is only a temporary move - because of shortages of highly-skilled doctors - there are fears it will be a long time before the Huddersfield unit opens again.
Thousands of Huddersfield people fought to keep all the services at the Royal Infirmary in a 12-month campaign launched by the Examiner.
The Born and Bred campaign - fought throughout 1999 and 2000 - came after health officials considered switching all maternity services from Huddersfield to a hospital being built in Halifax.
The newspaper galvanised people from every walk of life into action.
Mothers, grandmothers, nurses, former hospital staff, councillors and MPs joined the fight to retain the vital services - and preserve the town's birthright.
The ultimate fear was that there would be no more babies born in the Infirmary, no more people proud to say: "I was born in Huddersfield."
Health Secretary Frank Dobson was lobbied by the then editor, John Williams, and campaign leaders took a petition to No 10.
And they celebrated victory in March, 2000, when the health authority did an about-turn and agreed to keep both a maternity unit and a special care baby unit at the Royal Infirmary.
Neo-natal services followed later.
