On Monday, the People’s March for the NHS – organised by a group of Darlington mums as a protest against the privatisation of the NHS – passed through Newton Aycliffe town centre on its way to London, following the route of the famous Jarrow Crusade of 1936.
The marchers were met at Central Avenue by the Mayor of Great Aycliffe, Wendy Hillary, who – accompanied by our MP Phil Wilson and MEP Judith Kirton-Darling – then led it through the town centre. ‘Whose NHS? – Our NHS’ chanted the marchers, ‘NHS – NOT FOR SALE!’
Carrying the banner at the front of the March were two Aycliffe residents who are doing the whole 282 miles from Jarrow to London.
Neil Collinson is a Great Aycliffe town councillor. When asked why he was doing the march, he said: “This government is selling off our NHS to big business, and I am saying it has to stop.” Trade Union activist Craig Farlow was walking because he felt obliged: “It is my duty to march on behalf of those people who cannot do it themselves … and for those who have not yet realised how much danger the NHS is in”.
We salute these two men who are giving so much to protect the NHS for us.
All along the route bystanders applauded, and drivers hooted their support. And it was a particularly proud moment to march into Newton Aycliffe, the birthplace of the Welfare State, in the footsteps of the Jarrow marchers, as our town joined for a moment the campaign to preserve the NHS from the profiteers.
If you want to know the march’s progress, you can follow it on twitter #march4nhs
