Seven walkers yesterday completed a nine-week pilgrimage across Britain to protest against "the scandal of poverty".
Supporters clapped and cheered as the pilgrims were drummed into Lambeth Palace Gardens in central London on the final stage of their 670-mile walk which started on Iona off the west coast of Scotland on August 15th.
"A pilgrimage is a symbolic way to bring people together and expose the inequality that exists in Britain," said Mr Chris Lawrence-Pietroni from the pressure group Church Action on Poverty which organised the walk.
The pilgrimage's conclusion coincided with the United Nations Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
One pilgrim, the Rev Keith Albans, a Methodist minister from Sheffield, said the walk had been physically tough but spiritually and socially rewarding.
"The welcome we have received has been overwhelming. Complete strangers have opened up their houses and let us in all along our journey.
"There have been tough days. One man in a very deprived estate in Sunderland gave me a look as if to say `This is a futile gesture. You won't achieve anything'. It's because we are certain that we can change things that we have carried on. We have met with local groups at every stage of the journey to discuss and generate ideas on how to tackle the scourge of poverty."
The Rev Tony Burnham, general secretary of the United Reformed Church, who addressed the pilgrims and their supporters, said: "I hope that this government is on a pilgrimage as well. They've taken a few steps in the right direction so far, but they've got their share of foot-slogging still to do."
Today the pilgrims will meet the Chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, to put their case directly and will call for radical action to end poverty, including the introduction of a minimum income guarantee for citizens.
A fifth of Britain's children live in families where no one is in work, according to a recent survey by the Department of Social Security.
In February 1999, 3.8 million people received income support and another 1.3 million were receiving job-seeker's allowance.
One in three children - more than two million under 16 or in further education - live in households with incomes of less than £155 a week (half the national average) according to another study by the government statistical service.
The same study found the percentage of households on less than half average earnings rose from about 15 per cent to 17 per cent between 1994-1995 and 1997-1998.
Typical of the worst off were single mothers who were out of work and living in rented accommodation.
The survey found that children in ethnic minority households were more likely to be in the low-income category than children in white households.
More than half of all pensioner couples were at the bottom of the income league, it was also revealed.
The government last month launched an anti-poverty crusade by setting out specific standards by which it could be judged at the next election. The 32 indicators cover employment, income, housing, education and health.