Twin mission for Premier

£10m CTC opened

The Prime Minister was in Nottingham this afternoon to officially open the first purpose-built City Technical College in Britain.

Mansfield businessman Mr Harry Djanogly—who donated £1m to start up the £10m CTC—welcomed Mrs Thatcher at the front of the building in Sherwood Rise.

And college principal Mr Matt Andrews and project director Mr John Ramsden greeted her at the door.

Education Secretary Mr John MacGregor met up with the Prime Minister for a tour of the college which so far has 165 pupils.

Eventually it will take 1,000—aged from 11 to 16.

Mrs Thatcher officially opened the college in the plush sports hall.

She was watched by the first intake for the the controversial new school dressed in their bright blue and grey uniforms.

The college—on the site of the old Player's warehouse—will concentrate on teaching children science subjects.

It opened its doors to the first pupils on September 11.

During the Prime Minister's tour, language tutor Shirley Mason showed how her class learned modern languages with the help of computers—and hardly any books.

Screened

Tight security screened the Prime Minister when she arrived in the city.

She had earlier officially opened a new institute at Nottingham University.

Mrs Thatcher said she was delighted to be in the city—especially because of its connections with Grantham, her home town.

University Vice Chancellor Prof Colin Campbell greeted the Prime Minister at the door of the £500,000 Institute of German, Austrian and Swiss Affairs.

His daughter Victoria, ten, presented Mrs Thatcher with a bouquet.

The Premier unveiled a plaque and then toured the new institute which focuses on the politics, economics, business life and foreign relations and other areas of German-speaking states.

She said: “I think it is so right to have this kind of institute here. I'm very glad that someone thought of endowing it for the study of these great affairs.”

The cash for the building was donated by Mr John Gunn, who graduated from [end p1] the university's Department of German in 1964.

He is now chairman of British and Commonwealth Holdings.

Mr Gunn said: “This is my way of saying thank you to the university. If this institute can play some part in making Britain understand the German, Austrian and Swiss countries, it will play a part in making England flourish.”

Later, Mrs Thatcher spent an hour viewing two world-leading projects in the university's physics laboratory.

They were the magnetic body scanner which will complement and replace many of the current uses of X-rays and the semi conductor programme which is researching a second generation in computer technology.

Prof Peter Mansfield who has been working on the scanner project for 17 years chatted with the Prime Minister.

Student Mark Synns, 23, volunteered to have his body scanned under the machinery.

Mrs Thatcher, a chemistry graduate, then went on to view the university's Numbers Project which is now leading to many new sorts of practical devices within industry and commerce, including detectors for satellite TV.

The Prime Minister and staff who were showing her round donned protective gear.

Then she left for the CTC, a visit which attracted some criticism from Nottingham North Labour MP Mr Graham Allen.

He said: “It is an outrage that a few children can get thousands more pounds of expenditure on their education because they happen to be part of Mrs Thatcher's pet scheme.

“This is in contrast to the vast majority who attend schools in Nottinghamshire. More money is being spent on this school than in all the other schools in Nottinghamshire put together.”