Hunger Marches in Blantyre

Night Spent in Co-operative Hall

About 400 of the men and a number of the women who took part in the huge demonstration in Glasgow on Sunday against the Employment Assistance Bill, left Blantyre en route to the City shortly after 10 o’clock that morning. The contingent, headed by a few pipers and a drummer, was a very orderly one, and conspicuous at the head of the column was the veteran miners’ leader, Andrew McAnulty, who stepped it out gamely alongside District Councillor Beecroft. “Andra” did not march the whole way to Glasgow, but he headed the column until Blantyre was left well behind, when he was persuaded that he had marched far enough. Three hundred of the men from various parts of Lanarkshire had spent the Saturday night in the Co-operative Hall, arriving about 7.30 that evening led by Mr James Beecroft, and escorted to the hall where a hot supper was provided. A fund-raising concert was held afterwards and in the morning each of them received a substantial breakfast and a meat sandwich (to provide sustenance on the march) before setting out for Glasgow.

Blantyre Gazette, 30th March 1935

Also in ‘A Blast from the Past‘, by Andy Paterson.

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