LONDON - Keith Richards joined about 15,000 people marching in southern England on Saturday against possible cuts in services at a hospital near his country home.

The 62-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist issued a statement saying St. Richard's Hospital - in the town of Chichester, south of London - is a "vital local amenity" for residents, visitors and vacationers.

The protesters believe they may lose an emergency department and maternity services at St. Richard's in the proposed reorganization of three hospitals in West Sussex county.

The rocker has owned Redlands, a country home in West Wittering, near Chichester, since the 1960s, although his main residence is in Connecticut.

On Saturday, he turned up at the Chichester demonstration in a minibus and dressed in a long black leather coat, a trilby hat and sunglasses.

Other celebrities there included Tony Award-winning actress Patricia Routledge, 78, and actor Christopher Timothy, 67, who portrayed James Herriot in the long-running British TV series "All Creatures Great and Small."