Jarrow Crusade

The second half of term saw Year 5 pupils from St Bede’s Prep School recreating the Jarrow Crusade. The original march of 200 protesters took place 75 years ago. The unemployed men set off from Jarrow on 5th October 1936 and took almost a month to march to London and lobby Parliament for jobs.

The whole of Year 5 and their Integrated Studies teachers dressed the part. The protesters marched from the Prep School to Whitbread Hollow. As they marched they shouted slogans such as: ‘Two children, one wife, no job!’, ‘It’s harder to get a job than it is to go to war!’, ‘Don’t let us starve’ and ‘Save us! Don’t grave us!’, whilst proudly waving their banners. They played harmonicas and sang songs to keep their spirits up on their long walk.

As the marchers neared The Hollow, the kind ladies who had set up the soup kitchen heard their chanting and readied the hot soup, tea and biscuits. The weary marchers were very appreciative of the free food and drink supplied to them, preparing them for the next leg of their long journey.