Page 69 - She's One Crazy Lady!

“Hundreds of heads turned in her direction and there, right in front
of us were two of the rhinos
mating!
”
“So, you’ve not been knitting then?”
“No Miss!”
I told him he didn’t have to apologise to me but thanked him and
gently explained to him the only person he had let down was himself. We chatted for a long time. He said he would change. Did he? I do hope so. I wasn’t to see ‘B’ again.
The reason I have spoken about Trevor and ‘B’ (and there were many more!) is that, in running a Breast Cancer Charity, all the people who came through our doors I saw as individuals with ‘special needs’ and felt drawn to helping them – because their needs were, most definitely, genuine.
We loved projects at Whitefriars; we loved dressing up; we loved performances – we were one big happy family with such a strong team. On one occasion, my colleague, Lesley, and Deputy Head, Brenda and I took our classes to Whipsnade Zoo. No risk assessments then and no health and safety policies to adhere to and write out in triplicate! We were sitting by the rhinoceros’ enclosure eating our packed lunches – (note no fences!) when, suddenly Brenda shouted out.
“Stroll on!”.
Hundreds of heads turned in her direction and there, right in front of us were two of the rhinos mating!
“What are they doing Miss Hooper?” chorused the children.
Desperately trying to keep straight faces, we simply told them the truth – that they were just being friendly to each other and having fun although I’m not sure this explanation pacified them as we could hear them chuntering and laughing with the animals still ‘playing’. The acceptance and innocence of children is amazing.
We were to experience many more incidents that caused
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