Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Remarks visiting Finchley (Woodhouse School)

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: North Finchley
Source: Finchley Press, 24 May 1974
Editorial comments: 1015.
Importance ranking: Trivial
Word count: 163

Mrs Margaret Thatcher, MP for Finchley and Friern Barnet and former Education Minister, made an informal visit to Woodhouse School, North Finchley, last Thursday.

She was greeted by the headmaster, Mr D. Whitaker, and the head boy and head girl, Denis Chatterton and Otwen Hughes, who are with her in the picture above.

Before looking around the school, Mrs Thatcher explained: “This is just an informal visit. I was unable to present the prizes at the school prize-giving, recently, and I am making this visit as a substitute.”

The visit came at a time when the future of Woodhouse School is again the subject of controversy. Plans for a merger with Friern Barnet County School and Christ Church School are in the pipeline, with Woodhouse School planned as a sixth-form college.

But Mrs Thatcher refused to discuss the situation. “I am no longer Minister for Education,” she said.