Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Christmas Message for Hospital Radio

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Editorial comments: Between 1000 and 1200 MT recorded Christmas messages and interviews.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 280
Themes: Autobiographical comments, Health policy

I am very pleased that Hospital Radio has given me the chance to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a recovery to full health in the New Year.

We are recording this broadcast a few days before Christmas in one of the state rooms upstairs at No. 10 Downing Street. We have a beautifully decorated tree nearby, partly because this is where we entertain many of our official guests, but also because right up until the last minute No. 10 is where many of us spend the Christmas period. Indeed, we have at least two other Christmas trees at No. 10 this year—one outside the famous front door and one just inside the front hall.

The state rooms are also the scene of our own Christmas party where everyone who works at No. 10 and all those who have left us during the past year gather together to sing carols, dance, have a wonderful party—indeed, all of those things we associate with Christmas. There are about two hundred of us in all, so you can see [end p1] that quite a lot of people work here and we have quite a time at Christmas, because although No. 10 is first and foremost a place of work, it has a wonderful family feeling for those who are privileged to serve here.

You, of course, are celebrating Christmas away from home in what in a way is also a place of work. Yet as always, I am sure that everything possible will be done to create a wonderful atmosphere in which to enjoy the festivities.

I am very conscious that without those who give up their family Christmases—nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, telephonists, catering staff, and many more—we could not enjoy ours. So at this time of giving, I know you would wish to join me in saying a very special thank you to them and a very very Happy Christmas to you all!