Speech visiting her old school
| Document type: | Speeches, interviews, etc. |
|---|---|
| Venue: | Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, Grantham, Lincolnshire |
| Source: | Thatcher MSS (Churchill Archive Centre): THCR [speaking notes] |
| Editorial comments: | Around 1030. The Nottingham Evening Post, 4 July 1986, has additional material. Anti-nuclear demonstrators were chanting "No to nuclear dumping" as MT arrived at the school. She walked over to talk with them and said: "There is no need to shout. You will not win an argument that way". Later - inside the school - she answered questions on the prospect of nuclear waste being buried in Lincolnshire: "Of course no one wants it. But we all know it has to go somewhere. It is a great dilemma". |
| Importance ranking: | Minor |
| Word count: | 495 |
| Themes: | Autobiographical comments, Autobiography (childhood), Education, Leadership, Energy |
Councillor Newton, Chairman, Miss Wilson.
It is a privilege and a great personal pleasure to be here today at this important ceremony. I am glad to return to Grantham, and to renew my family's long association with K.G.G.S.. And I am indeed happy that you have decided to name the new building after my father who was such a great influence on my life.
For me it is of course a place of memories. I remember well Miss Williams, our first headmistress who set standards of excellence and courtesy which fitted us for life and which set the tradition for the future. I could name every teacher who taught my generation and one of the reasons I return is to say thank you to them all.
It is said that you longest journey starts with the first step and there were indeed many steps from here to that famous house known as No.10 Downing Street. But I am sure that the education you receive today would also equip you to follow the same path if you choose. And indeed, when men Prime Ministers come back into fashion one may make his way from the boy's school. That would also please my father because he served that school too.
And any and every achievement from Grantham would please him—he was very proud to be Mayor of our town and I have to remember that while there have been some 130 Mayors of Grantham I am only the 48th Prime Minister.
Royal Charter 1463.
First “Prime Minister “ at No.10 1735.
May I tell you just a little about that great house whose present tenant I am?
Each time I go in through the door, I feel as if I am walking through history and of course that is true.
Staircase of portraits.
Room of portraits
Wellington—General & PM [end p1]
Nelson—Admiral—
Pitt—England saved herself by her exertions and Europe by her example
Gladstone, Disraeli
Lloyd George & Winston Churchill
Some giants of men, some less well known.
Each with his hopes & dreams of the future, each grappling with the problems of his time.
I remember as a child hearing someone say “It's easy to give orders” .
It isn't—it's trying to puzzle what's the best order to give that's the difficult part.
And gradually as you walk through the rooms you feel they have seen most things before. They witness history as the story of people's lives—their [???], their efforts, their decisions—deciding what to do as they found the way forward.
I am proud of this our school and of this our town and particularly proud that my father used his talents to help shape this living memorial.
The words of the poet fitted him so well:
“And if you find a solitary sage
Who teaches what is truth ah then you find
The lord of men, the guardian of the wind
The victor of all armies & of age”
I hope you will find something of the inspiration he gave me.