IN PRAISE OF ENTERPRISE

When he was 22, Marc Albert set up a business from the bedroom of his Finchley home with less than £1,000.

Eight years on, with an annual turnover of £15 million, his whizz-kid tendencies have earned him Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's seal of approval.

The Finchley MP was officially opening the new headquarters of ECT pic, a carphone company in Whetstone High Road, in the first of four visits in her Finchley and Friern Barnet constituency on Friday.

She picked up some goodies on her way, including a jazzy-looking phone, and asked all sorts of questions of the 200 staff.

She also had the chance to try out a voice-activated phone but made a slight faux pas in asking where the “smaller, less heavy phones” were.

She was told: “Oh, our opposition makes them, I'm afraid.”

But that didn't stop her from praising the business initiative.

“I'm so pleased to see it all,” she said. “You are the people who create the wealth, not us.”

She added that, in the light of the recent “absolutely dreadful” motorway murder, that car phones are a good safety option, particularly for women.

She rounded her visit off with a tour of the car bays where men in “Maggie Tour '88” T-shirts were fitting the phones.

Managing director Mr Albert, who recently sold the company for almost £10m, clearly enjoyed himself showing the prime minister around.

“It was a lovely honour to have her here. She's extremely pleasant and it was really excellent,” he said.

If Margaret Thatcher suddenly looks as if she's got more spring in her step, you could put it down to royal jelly.

The Finchley MP went on from ECT to visit Regina Health and Beauty in Alexandra Grove, North Finchley, and came away with enough of the stuff to see her through the next five general elections.

Outstanding expansion

She was congratulating the company, which started 13 years ago with a £1,000 bank loan, for its outstanding profits and expansion.

She met founder Irene Stein, who showed her how the royal jelly, produced by bees, is transformed into cream and capsules, to give energy, smooth skin and more besides.

And she stopped to ask the 20 workers in the hive of activity the ins and outs of their jobs.

The prime minister praised the firm which, she said, had started small, “but, by the sheer skill and entrepreneurship” had made it big.

She confessed to being a honey lover, adding: “If you want something sweet, it's better to take it in the form of honey than sugar, because it has all those vitamins.”

After the VIP guest had gone, Mrs Stein said: “I enjoyed her visit very much. She's quite a lovely lady and extremely charming.”

A Busy afternoon was followed by a busy evening for Mrs Thatcher.

After a visit to her constituency office in Ballards Lane, North Finchley, she was driven to the army community centre in Sweets Way, Whetstone, where she met the men and families of many branches of the armed forces including the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, and the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards.

Mrs. Thatcher was welcomed by Major Overd, accommodation commandant; Colonel Prescott, deputy commandant, Postal Courier Depot Royal Engineers, Mill Hill, and Mrs Prescott; and Warrant Officer 1 Brian Haw, Sweets Way community centre club chairman, and Mrs Lynda Haw.

Scores of excited children and their mothers gathered outside the community centre to catch a glimpse of Mrs Thatcher.

They included three-year-old Mark Nicholls, who was so overcome at meeting the premier that he burst into tears.

But the most excited child at the centre was 11-year-old Andrea Haw, younger daughter of WO Haw, who presented the prime minister with a bouquet of flowers, cheered on by her friends.

Andrea, a pupil at Queenswell School, said: “She's much nicer and friendlier than on the television.”

Inside the centre, Mrs Thatcher chatted and joked with servicemen and their wives for nearly an hour.

Wearing a navy dress with a white leaf pattern and matching navy and white court shoes, she poured herself a cup of tea and asked army wives what the centre was like.

“Not as nice as Honk [sic] Kong,” quipped one wife, who had just returned from the Far East with her husband and family.

Falklands posting

Among the men was Sergeant Houldsworth, a chemist with the Royal Army Medical Corps, who is about to take up a posting in the Falklands.

“There's lots of penguins out there needing blood tests,” he joked.

Asked about her social life, Mrs Thatcher said she didn't have one.

“There's not much time for a social or private life,” she said.

“Except for short holidays to the Austrian mountains. I love mountains, there's something about them which puts life into perspective.”

Nearly 300 members of Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association attended a midsummer party in the evening with Margaret Thatcher as guest of honour.

At the dinner at Woodhouse School in Woodhouse Road, North Finchley, Mrs Thatcher spoke about her successful trip to Toronto and explained how the Canadians admired her “for telling it like it is” .

She also spoke about important issues of the moment, including everyone's personal responsibilty for law and order.

Mrs Thatcher told a cheering audience—including North London Euro-candidate Bob Lacey and Friern Barnet Councillor Chris Platford—that the Tory Party was the party of the future and how important it was to get the message across to young people.

“Its always relaxing to visit my constituency,” she said. “Particularly in between trips to Toronto and Hanover. One must never forget the importance of the constituency.”