By Bruce Bond 
 I first met David in the early 1970s. He was a pupil at Penrose School and I had just been appointed by the Head Teacher, Dinah Aze, as his class teacher. 
Penrose was one of the first ESN(S) schools to open in Somerset. 100 years after Forster’s 1870 Education Act had promised “Education for All”, Harold Wilson’s 1970 Education Act finally kept this promise. The label ESN(S) stood for Educationally Sub-Normal (Severe). Prior to 1970 all children thus labelled were excluded from the education system and sent to Junior Training Centres. Penrose School was under the Health Authority. 
All this was over 50 years ago and perhaps we need to be mindful of L P Hartley’s observation: ‘The past is a foreign country; they do things differently back there.’ Certainly the terminology of that time is no longer acceptable or appropriate today. 
For me working at Penrose was more about coming to terms with my teaching difficulties rather than the pupils’ learning difficulties: about me trying to respond to profound learning differences with a profoundly disabled teaching kit! I like to think I learnt a lot from those days. 
Working with David was akin to unearthing a beautiful mosaic. Some small sections you could uncover with clarity….. but in other areas only a small cluster of sparkling tesserae occasionally hinted tantalisingly at the potential landscape below. 
Particular fond memories I have of David from Penrose days involve a couple of “Uh-Oh! Watch Out!” moments when (much to David’s delight!) I was about to “Cop it” from Dinah. 
One of these involved the follow-up work from a class visit to the Bridgwater Fire Station. After the visit the class assiduously set to work to build a set of houses and a Big Red Fire Engine from cardboard boxes…after a few days’ work a small ‘street’ of said houses…all nicely painted… were arranged outside the classroom in the sandpit. …Mr Lock, the caretaker, wearing the obligatory Fireman’s helmet (also made from a cardboard box) and wielding the school hosepipe, represented the Fire Brigade. 
The class stood well back as I ceremoniously set fire to the end house of the “village”. A helpful, but rather sudden, gust of wind sprung up from nowhere and in no time at all the model village was ravaged by fire whilst David enthusiastically rang the school hand-bell we had borrowed for the occasion. 
Unfortunately, Mr Locke was a bit slow off the mark in his response in the role as Fireman Sam, but soon had the blaze under control. ….Also unfortunately, we had left the classroom sliding doors open and lots of smoke had blown into the school…down the corridor …and into Dinah’s office. Seconds later Dinah appeared…”not in the best of moods” …might best describe her reaction. I got a bigger roasting than the model village… and David was hopping from foot to foot with utter delight. tee hee …Teacher gets a wigging!! Happy days! 
Must be said though, the subsequent paintings the kids did of the Great Fire of Bridgwater were well worth it!