Here's another Margaret Thatcher story. One that took place nearly a quarter of a century ago. And it is one that I heard for the first time on Monday afternoon. It's when the then Prime Minister visited the RSPB headquarters to celebrate our centenary.
Back in 1989 I think I had just finished my A-Levels and was working as a coalman (true). But, one of the joys about working at the RSPB is that there is always someone "who was there". A surprising number of my current colleagues were already with the organisation and remember the day fondly. Some have shared their memories and now I’d like to share a couple of them with you.
The visit began with a walk around the Lodge’s formal gardens and ornamental pond. We had arranged for a group of local school children to be strategically placed in one corner making nestboxes and Mrs Thatcher happily spoke to the children about what they were doing and even hammered in a nail herself, I’m told. After that she was given a tour of the house led by the RSPB's great and the good of the day: Magnus Magnussen (President), Adrian Darby (Chairman) and Ian Prest (Chief Executive).
Gwyn Williams, the RSPB’s current head of reserves and protected areas, was conservation coordinator back then. He remembers the staff all being on their best behaviour, instructed to stay in their offices with the doors shut: “If your door opened, that meant mean Mrs Thatcher would be behind it. The wait was rather nerve-wracking.” However, the thing that sticks out most about the day for Gwyn was how red her hair was: “It was apricot! I had a colour TV by then, but it looked nothing like it did on the telly. And she was much smaller than I expected, too.”
Baroness Thatcher’s height – or lack of it - was one of the things that Ken Smith, our then Senior Research Biologist, also remembers. He was part of the big finale at the end of the PM’s tour. The plan was to demonstrate to the Prime Minister how cutting edge the RSPB was when it came to science and technology by showing her how we were radio tracking stone curlews in the Brecks. The car being used to support the radio mast was a Citroen 2CV. Obviously no-one had realised the error in using a French car for this particular demo...
Ken remembers: “The Prime Minister was quick to spot the provenance of the car in question and, given her aversion to all things European at that time, decided she didn’t want the press photographers, who were all lined-up in front, ready to snap away, to catch her next to it. She immediately grabbed my arm and marched me over to another group of people. I had no choice but to do what I was told – she wasn’t the kind of woman you’d argue with! I’ll always remember that day – and it’s provided me with some great after-dinner material.”Almost a quarter of a century on, we’re looking ahead to our 125th anniversary in 2014. Maybe that would be the right time for another Prime Minister to pay us a visit. He'd be very welcome and we'd have a lot to talk about...