Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I really wanted to say a few words on the celebration … . but even more so for me because I remember its formation and lots of other people who remember its formation too. But I wanted to say on this occasion a very warm welcome to No 10 Downing Street. A number of you have spoken to me and said how marvellous it is to be here. Believe me, it's marvellous to have you here; first to say thank you for everything you do, but secondly I remember the first time I came in here when I was a young Member of Parliament and Lady Dorothy Macmillan, who was the wife of Harold Macmillan, invited us, the new Members of Parliament, to Downing Street and I can remember the thrill with which one stepped over the threshold expecting it to be a rather small house. But it's not a small house at all, it is really much larger, and the thrill of coming up that staircase with all previous Prime Ministers and knowing that each and every one of us was threading where about thirty-nine Prime Ministers had already trodden; many, many heads of government; where all of the decisions affecting Britain since 1732 had been taken here. So it wasn't just a house as I had thought. We were really walking through the steps and pages of history.
And in a way you have been part of that history. Because it was a stroke of genius, when in 1938, this organisation was formed. They were my formative years for politics. Now that might sound strange but you will know what I mean. When you are a child you are very interested in what your adults are saying. It's much more interesting than what your contempories are saying. I loved listening to it, and I loved joining in the talk in knowing what was going on. And we knew full well that sooner or later we should have problems. I remember Neville Chamberlain, who also was here, going to Munich and coming back, and we hoped that it would be all right. And then somehow we knew it wouldn't be. And then we had to take many, many precautions and that's when, in those days, the Women's Voluntary Services was formed to help us the better to gather together people to take air raid precautions and throughout the years whenever there was need for help, whenever there was a local, a national disaster or just ordinary keeping things going, the Women's Voluntary Services have become a fundamental part of our life. But also a fundamental part of the manifestation of everything that is best in Britain. We don't have to be told what to do when help is needed. We naturally go to the place to do it and Britain couldn't run but for the tremendous strength of her voluntary organisations, the people who wish to do more than just abide by the law, although that is [end p1] marvellous, although they go and give of their effort, of their time, of their genius, of their thought, of their talent or whatever they have got. And I think you know, as I know, that you really at the end of a day when you are absolutely exhausted and you've done a superb job of work, you feel far better than you do at the end of any other day of enjoyment because that's the way life is. And so I have to thank you tremendously but I also have to say what you do for me not only directly but by being here tonight and by meeting you. I have to deal with rising crime; I have to deal with young people who don't—some are marvellous but alas we don't hear enough about them—but you know some of the violence we get, you know some of the drugs that we get, some of the alcoholism that we get, and it isn't only a question of having more police and more courts and stiffer sentences. The standard of a country is a standard its families, its institutions, its people give it. And I want to say this to you tonight. When I have seen you all come in, I think of only everyone else who are like you. I am serious, you stand for something. Yes, I am deadly serious. You stand for something; you brought your children up well. When you see things not going right, you go and help but if people need ticking off, they're ticked off, and it often does them a lot a good and sends them straight instead of crooked. Yes, because you give me tremendous faith and inspiration, all of you, because if only everyone were like you and said, “We belong to Britain, we have an obligation,” we would belong to such a marvellous country and you have very much fewer problems. It is the fact that you go out into every part of Great Britain—you are the leaven in the loaf—and you are keeping it, all the standards and all that is best in the life of our country. So it is right you should be here in No 10, because you too are part of our history, part of our past, and what you are doing is setting a tradition for the future. And we will just make a note of this in our records, then I hope you will be back here for the 75th anniversary, and some will be here for the 100th, I expect.
Thank you very much for everything you have done, from the bottom of my heart, and I hope you are having a lovely time tonight.