Two former Isleworth schoolgirls who organised a major anti-knife rally in London claim they acted now for the sake of their children's futures.

Sharon Singh and Gemma Alway (pictured), who dreamed up Saturday's People's March, both studied at the Green School, in Busch Corner, between 1993 and 1998.

But incredibly the inspirational duo only became friends a decade later after stumbling upon each other on a Facebook reunion group.

"Gemma and I never said much more than 'hi' or 'bye' to each other when we were at school and we hadn't seen each other for 10 years," said Sharon, 26, of Turnham Green Terrace, Chiswick.

"But we got chatting online about knife crime and decided we should do something ourselves rather than waiting for the Government to act.

"Gemma's got two young children and I've got a 19-year-old brother and neither of us wanted to leave it until the police were knocking on our doors telling us something awful had happened."

The duo were 'overwhelmed' by the response after setting up a Facebook group to gauge public opinion and just 10 weeks later the People's March became a reality.

About 5,000 people joined Saturday's protest, which converged on Hyde Park, including the father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor and ex-Eastenders actress Brooke Kinsella, whose brother was stabbed to death in June.

Such was its success, Sharon has since quit her job as a drugs counsellor to devote herself full-time to setting up the People's March charity.

"The Green School definitely gave me the foundations to become the person I am today," she said.

"We had were some really inspirational teachers like Miss Wellham, who taught sociology, and our head of year Mr Pambos."

• For more about the People's March and getting involved in future events, email: sharon@thepeople.org.uk

Robert Cumber