A Quiet Visit – When the Prime Minister Came

Photograph from Wikipedia

Life in Conisbrough continued its normal routine on Friday when the Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Wilson, passed, almost unnoticed, through the town. So unprepared was Conisbrough for such a visit that when a group of women inquired as to the reason for the increased activity at the crossroads to the police constable on duty, his reply: “The Prime Minister’s coming”, was greeted with hearty laughter by the women, who obviously treated the remark as no more than a well timed “off the cuff” joke, and they did not stay to establish for themselves any truth which may have been in the statement.

Mr Wilson and his party were on their way to the new Comprehensive School at Edlington which the Premier subsequently formally opened on Friday. His arrival at the crossroads was heralded by a siren warning from the police motorcycle which lead the five-car procession. The Prime Minister was seated in the rear of a black Humber Super Snipe, and in characteristic fashion, was smoking his pipe.

The party included several W.R.C.C. officials, but by the time the last car of officials had passed through Conisbrough a full five minutes behind the main “convoy’ the handful of onlookers who had “braved the cold” had already dispersed.