Campaigner’s chance pub meeting was the start of it…

A chance encounter in a village pub sparked the new Kent and Canterbury Hospital plan.

Peggy Pryer, the secretary of Concern for Health in East Kent (Chek), spotted Quinn Estates director Mark Quinn in the Red Lion at Bridge and marched up to him with a message.

“I asked him if he was that Mark Quinn bloke I keep reading about and when he said he was, I said that he could not keep building homes without building a new hospital,” Mrs Pryer, 79, said.

“All these people living in these new homes will need a new hospital.

“I think I really implanted the idea in his mind and it’s looking good. It’s the important first step.”

Mrs Pryer, who lives in Conyngham Lane in Bridge, has been a tireless health campaigner for two decades, but fears politics could intrude unnecessarily into the work.

She said: “When I went to up Mr Quinn, I was really going up to him on behalf of Chek. It’s Chek which really has made all this possible.

“But I think there might be too much politics getting involved. Helen Whately and Rosie Duffield need to be working together.

“And whoever is advising Rosie is not giving her the right information. This isn’t a case of selling the hospital – it’s a case of building a new one.

“I spoke to Mark Quinn the other day and he had a message for me. I’m 80 next month and he said I needed to stay alive until the new hospital is finished.”

Mr Quinn said: “None of this would have been possible without the enthusiasm and determination of two women – Helen Whately and Peggy Pryer.

“Both have tirelessly pushed me to get involved. I didn’t want to get involved in it, all I saw was problems.

“They’ve pushed me into creating what I think is a gamechanging solution for the people in this area.”

Peggy Pryer’s determination and enthusiasm – and a chance pub meeting – helped to bring about the plans for a new hospital; the existing hospital site isn’t part of the proposals