My mother had recently moved to England from her home in Ireland to escape from the poverty at home.

Her weekly earnings paid her rent and, as a waitress, she depended on her tips for food, fuel etc so she was one of the urban poor.

When the Jarrow Marchers arrived she said that she and hundreds of others who saw them cried for them because no-one in London had seen such extreme poverty.

Their clothes were threadbare and ragged and most had no shoes or boots that had proper soles in them. All were skinny and looked ill.