THE largest public demonstration Canterbury has ever seen sent a clear message to the Government: Save the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. An estimated 10,000-15,000 people answered the call from pressure group Concern for Health in East Kent (CHEK) to continue the fight against downgrading.

They marched defiantly from Dane John Gardens, through the city centre to the Westgate Towers.

Children, the elderly, people in motorised wheelchairs, councillors, MPs and many others, motivated by a sense of injustice and anger that their hospital is to be reduced to cottage hospital status, thronged the streets, banners aloft. As marchers arrived at the Westgate Towers and St Peter's Place those at the tail end were still filtering into the High Street from Rose Lane.

Despite the huge numbers, the event was good-natured and only at the end of the march did events threaten to get out of hand with an impromptu demonstration which blocked a road. There were no arrests.

Canterbury MP Julian Brazier estimated that 20,000 had joined the protest, but CHEK chairman David Shortt said the correct number was probably between 10,000 and 15,000.

Immediately after the march, the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Cllr Fred Whitemore, told a public meeting at the Westgate Hall: "The turn-out exceeds our wildest expectations. I have never known a demonstration that has filled the High Street from one end to the other."