A woman who knew Margaret Thatcher as a youngster returned to Grantham today to get away from it all in London.
But when 87-year-old Mollie Ormonde, born Wyman, went to visit the museum she was in for a shock as dozens of people visited the museum to see the funeral shown live on a big screen.
Mollie, who says she was no fan of Baroness Thatcher, said: “I came here to get away from it all. I have very happy memories of Grantham and I like to come back. I get very sentimental about it. I came here expecting everybody to be indoors. I wanted to know what was going on in the museum. I just wanted to sit down and have a cup of tea.”
Mollie attended her first school in Broad Street in Grantham with Baroness Thatcher, but their political paths would keep them apart later as Mollie went on to join the Labour party. She has been a member for 54 years.
Mollie, who now lives in Willesden Green in London, said: “I think the funeral is terrible. I hope there is no violence but I object to the cost.”
She knew the young Baroness Thatcher as a studious and political person. She said: “I remember her sitting over there in the library (now the museum) to study. I would be sitting here and often see her.
“I remember at the election in the 1930s I and a few others were runners for the Labour Party and she was a runner for the Conservatives. When people left their voting cards we would have to get them over to HQ.
“I was here when a section of the Jarrow March arrived in Barrowby Road and I remember Alf Roberts (Margaret Thatcher’s father) closed his shop that day. People were very generous and a lot of shops would give something to the marchers.”
Mollie left Grantham when she was 15 to go and work in a hotel in London.
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