It will be news to most people that a well-known Rushden man – Mr Aaron Upton, an Ambulance man – was one of the men who marched recently to London as a “Right to Work” demonstration. It will be remembered that the men started lately from Liverpool and marched to the metropolis under the command of “General” Gibbons.

Mr Upton, who is a member of the Rushden and Higham Ferrers branch of the Boot and Shoe Operatives’ Union, had been to Raunds, Wellingborough, and Walgrave looking for work, but had been unsuccessful. Then he went to Kettering, without any intention whatever of joining the march, but could find no employment. The Liverpool marchers came into Kettering that day, and as they were about to proceed to Northampton he decided to march with them, hoping to find work in the county town. He went to the trade union office at Northampton but saw there was no chance of getting any work, and the other marchers strongly urged him to continue the journey with them, on the ground that his knowledge of ambulance work would prove useful to them. He consented to accompany them, and, in reply to a Rushden Echo representative, he gave an account of his experiences.

At Northampton on the Saturday night the police entertained them and they were accommodated in the disused joinery works of Messrs Watkin Bros., near Castle station. Everything, however, was so damp that the men could get no sleep, and they were nearly starved through the sharp frost. On the Sunday night they were entertained – some by private individuals and others by the Social Club.

On the Monday a Northampton contingent joined them. After leaving Northampton the men formed a committee to look after the finances so that Gibbons should not have the collecting boxes in his sole charge.

At Bedford they were entertained by the Y.M.C.A. and were sheltered in the Salvation Army barracks for the night. The following night they slept in the Salvation Army barracks at Luton, a plentiful supply of straw being provided. At Watford they were accommodated for the night in the Labour Church, where there was a good stove which warned the place and made it very comfortable. The next day they went to Cricklewood, being drenched to the skin through a hail-storm. At Cricklewood they were met by Jack Williams, of London, and Thomas, of Edmonton, a V.C. hero, both of whom came to the rescue, Gibbons having made no satisfactory arrangements.

Mr Upton declares that all the way Gibbons was living in luxury, leaving the rest in the lurch. In London they were housed in the Salvation Army Labour Colony, Middlesex-street – a disused shoe factory.

Speaking of the character of the men, Mr Upton says that with the exception of Gibbons they were all men with a good character, anxious to work if they could get it. Mr Upton’s ambulance experiences stood him in good stead, as he treated over 100 cases on the road. He went through all the items in London with the others and returned with them to Kettering. Here his comrades begged him to continue with them to Leicester, a walk of 26 miles, and he consented. At Leicester they presented him with half-a-crown to help him back on the road, thanking him very heartily for his ambulance services. As a memento of the march Mr Upton possesses Gibbons’s whistle.