Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Speech to Finchley Conservatives (Association Autumn Fair)

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: St Mary’s Hall, Hendon Lane, Hendon
Source: Finchley Times, 21 November 1975
Editorial comments: 1000.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 409
Themes: Parliament, Economic policy - theory and process, Foreign policy (Central & Eastern Europe)

Record profit for the Tories

Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservatives raised a record profit of £800 at their autumn fair at St. Mary's hall, Hendon Lane, Finchley, on Saturday.

Stalls were already doing a roaring trade when the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, arrived to perform the opening, following her visit to Northern Ireland on the previous day.

Mrs Thatcher, MP for Finchley and Friern Barnet, made a short speech before touring the stalls.

She said that two years ago nobody thought inflation would knock 25p off every pound. The country's problems were great; the nation was producing less in five days under Labour than in three days under a Conservative government.

Mrs Thatcher spoke of the money the Government were borrowing, not only from the International Monetary Fund but from oil-rich countries and British people as well.

On the bright side said Mrs Thatcher, the country's people were the same who had invented so many things and won so many Noble prizes.

MAJORITY

She spoke of the difficulty of fighting Labour legislation in the House of Commons when the Government had an effective working majority of 40. She also mentioned her recent travel to the United States and Eastern Europe.

Iron Curtain countries boasted about their system—but it provided neither prosperity for their people, nor freedom.

The two societies joined in Berlin, where a wall had been erected to prevent people from getting out.

Mrs Thatcher, who was accompanied by her husband, was presented with a pot of plants by six-year-old Nicola Thurlow, of Temple Avenue, Whetstone.

The organiser of the fair was Mr Ron Thurlow, chairman of the entertainments committee. Stalls were run by branches and individuals, and one by the women's advisory committee. The bottle stall—which raised £200—was run by Contact, a group of 48 people who were members of the Young Conservatives in the 1960s.

A pick-a-stick lollypop stall run by four girls raised £1.35. The four were Nicola Thurlow, and her three-year-old sister, Lucy, and seven-year-old Zoe Alexander and her three-year-old sister, Sally.

Finchley Conservative agent, Mr Roy Langstone, won a competition for a big Christmas cake made by a member of East Ward, Mr and Mrs Bill Vokes organised lunches for 135 people.