insufficient for two TIRs to pass
without mounting the pavement.
A ., The villagers have always been a
little sensitive about their traffic
problems. Harry Hawkins remem-
bers complaints about the trotting
horses in Edwardian times. Then in
the Twenties the villagers had to con-
tend with an eccentric local, Count
Zborowski, and his succession of
monster ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’
cars which frightened their horses.
The idea of a by-pass was first
mooted in the late Fifties by local
councillor Alfred Ross, but it took
Smith’s death to produce concerted
action.
John Purchese’s house sat right
on the A2, across the road from the
Smith accident. He was naturally
worried: “At the time I had five
young children and it brought home
to me the dangers of the trafiic to
both young and old — We have one of
the highest proportions of OAPs in
Kent.” Purchese. wrote letters. He
wrote to councillors, county plan-
ners, local papers. He wrote as a
concerned resident, asking what
could be done. Brian Lewis saw one
of the letters in the local paper and
made contact with Purchese to oifer
his help. “It was the beginning,”
tflDW'TflEiEHAJFFLEEWUAS WCHV
.   .
1962
January: pensioner George Smith
is killed by a van. John Purchese
starts letter campaign. Brian
Lewis joins forces. 564 sign peti-
tion to Minister of Transport.
i
1963
April: two lorries hit East Kent
bus. Villagers erect banner:
‘SLOW, PEOPLE LIVE HERE’.
They also died there: since 1959
eight people had died, 49 had
been injured between Bridge Hill
and Town Hill. Demonstrators
from local youth club distribute
leaflets to motorists. _
i
1964 -
March: 150 villagers block Easter
traffic. dune: a carnage carnival
includes collins and an -efligy of
Transport Minister Marples_— fast
asleep. Bridge By-pass Campaign
enlarges to become A2 Group.
Sharp lesson, as Ganterbury M.P.
Sir Leslie Thomas denounces
"Group as undemocratic. 0ommit-
tee must be elected. It is.
i
1965
August: lorry’s brakes fail: ten
vehicles are shunted,» six people
injured. Ministry will spend £%m
widening A2, but no mention of
by-pass. Major accidents miracu-
lously cease. Apathy sets in.
1969
August: 100 people stage first
sit-down; four arrested. Another
village follows suit. Gampaign
appears to be marking time,
waiting for fresh impetus.
i
1972
May: meat truck demolishes a
Bridge shop. Driver dies. 300
protesters block trallic. New M.P.
David Grouch meets Kent plan-
ners. Demonstrators lobby Minis-
try. August: traflic census shows
Bridge High Street is 2% times
overloaded. ln October, a thou-
sand people block A2 for an hour.
Government announces intention
to by-pass Bridge.
i
1973
March: 40 mph limit placed on
Bridge’s two hills. Motoring
Which survey pronounces Bridge
the winner-for traflic noise.
Glose by village, juggernaut kills
three soldiers. M.P. Grouch forces
adjournment debate on A2 chaos.
Lewis and Purchese meet Under-
Secretary in Gommons bar, which
works wonders. By year’s end,
work on scheduled by-pass is
underway.
 
1976
dune: by-pass opens. There's
dancing in the-empty - streets.
says Lewis, “of a 14-year Tweedle-
dum and Tweedledee act.” Certainly
it looked an unlikely alliance: Lewis
was 18, living where he’d been born,
right by the A2, while Purchese was
a relative newcomer, a local printer
and 37-year-old family man.
Fourteen years is a long time in
anyone’s life but in protest group
terms it’s about seven times the going
average. “Most groups,” says Lewis,
“manage only two years before
apathy or political or personal dis-
sent creeps in. We’ve sustained this
campaign through sheer grass-roots
love of the village. I was born here.
My mother still lives on the main
road. I love this place—and I was
prepared to fight for it.”
Neither Purchese nor Lewis now
lives on the A2. Purchese, now into
his early fifties, leads a quieter exist-
ence in nearby Bekesboume. Lewis,
now married and a quantity surveyor,
has a _new bungalow off the main
road at the top of the notorious hill.
But, despite the international pub-
licity which the cause has attracted,
it’s always been strictly a local pro-
test, succeeding without the help of
the semi-professional enviromnental
heavies. You can learn a lot, too, in
14 years. “If we knew then what we