t 4.30pm on June 29, 1976,
Mrs Angela Bartlett led
her Shetland pony Dandy
down the steep hill, past
the church and into the
village high street of
Bridge in Kent. It was a
symbolic gesture — two
hours previously it would have been
suicidal. To understand why, one only
had to read the hand—written placard
tied to the pony’s tail: ‘Farewell
TIRs’ it said.
But then it was a day for sym-
bolic gestures for the l500 residents of 1
Bridge. After l4 years of campaign-
ing they had finally got rid of the big
trucks which had brought death,
destruction and disruption in in-
creasing doses over the past 20 years.
Now Bridge has its by—pass to take the
main A2 -— London to Dover - inter-
national 1ong—haul trafiic away from
the houses, shops and the narrow
High Street. It had never - been
designed to cope with the strain of
carrying a heavy TIR, let alone the
two-a—tninnte average, day and night,
which increasing trade with Europe
had brought.
p For Angela Bartlett the by-pass
meant that the village was now safe
for her seven-year-—old daughter to
ride through, just as she had done at
the same age. For 65-year-old Harry
Hawkins‘ it meant that the village
would once again bear some resem-
blance to the sepia postcard in his
photo album showing his news-
agent’s shop and just one 1920s car in
an otherwise deserted main street.
For Mrs Freshman it meant that
she could once again trundle her
splendidly vintage electric bathchair
down Bridge Hill to visit some
friends. “Even after the war I used
to come down in a pony and cart but
it’s years since I’ve been down to
Bridge on my own — this thing would
have been squashed in no time.”
It was the death of a 66—year~oldp
local pensioner, George Smith, in
January 1962 that started the Bridge
By—Pass Campaign. Smith, a~patient
from the local geriatric hospital, had
walked to the village to buy sweets
and cigarettes for the bedridden old
folk. Just as he stepped out of
Hawkins’s shop he was knocked down
by a van and killed. ' Such things
happen. But it highlighted the increas-
ing trafiic danger for all residents who
were not so nimble on their pins.
Geographically Bridge was an
inevitable disaster area. When the
Romans constructed Wading Street
as the principal link between London
and their main supply port of l_)over
rhev laid it rmt in n straiohr line