Campaigners calling for a Stewartry hospital to be reopened have received a huge public boost.
The Save Kirkcudbright Hospital Action Group urged locals to have their say at a consultation session on Monday.
And they were rewarded when an estimated 800 people filed into the council chambers on Daar Road.
The Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership event was one of several Right Care, Right Place sessions being staged in the region.
Action group founder Mary Mier was delighted with the “amazing” response.
She said: “There were a lot more people than they were expecting.”
Dee and Glenkens councillors Dougie Campbell, John Denerley and Andy McFarlane attended the session.
Councillor Campbell said: “I was really pleased that the local community turned out in large numbers.”
Kirkcudbright Community Council convener Lesley Garbutt added: “People were there because they want to keep their cottage hospital.”