End of one Tory era—start of another

About 300 members of Finchley and Friern Barnet Conservative Association celebrated the group's 50th anniversary with a cocktail party last week—the last official function to be held at the Conservative Hall in Ballards Lane, North Finchley.

At the beginning of next month, the association will move into new headquarters just down the road, at 212 Ballards lane—a three-storey house without a hall.

The old premises have been sold to the Lionel Green Group of Companies, Regents Park Road, Finchley, for £275,000.

Mrs Margaret Thatcher, MP for Finchley and Friern Barnet, said at the cocktail party: “It doesn't matter if it's a different hall, or it doesn't belong to us.

“What matters is the people in it, not the building.”

Difficult

Mrs Thatcher, Secretary of State for Education and Science, referred to the “very difficult time” with the problem of inflation, adding: “If we stick together we have a great chance of winning yet another election for the Conservatives.”

She said that although the occasion marked the end of an era, it was the beginning of another.

Mrs Thatcher said her memories of the hall included her selection as candidate for the constituency, and “one or two very happy parties” at election times when counts were held on the same night as polling day locally.

Several members of Barnet Council were present at the party.