When studying for my AS Level English Language coursework, one of the modules allowed a piece of original writing of my own choice.
After having witnessed a highly dramatic Devon Derby between Torquay United and Exeter City on January 20, 2001, which was billed at the time as the 'most crucial Devon Derby' of all time - as both the Gulls and the Grecians were battling against relegation from the Football League.
As taken as I was by the event,which saw Mark Ford spark a near-riot after scoring a penalty and Kevin Parker score a last gasp winner, I decided to write my own match report of the game and submit it as part of my coursework.
Whether you might think that that was a good idea or not, I'll let you decide. However, when it came writing the second draft just under a month later, I asked my English teacher Mr Trott what I could do to improve it and he replied 'maybe you could write to this David Thomas who the report (I used the report in the Herald Express as the basis of it) and ask him for some advice' - or words to that effect.
So I duly wrote to Dave Thomas and duly replied and we arranged to meet at Harmsworth House in Barton Hill Road, where the office of the Herald Express were based until 2018, on February 27, 2001 - three days before my 17th birthday I may hasten to add!
For me personally this was quite a big deal to me as I'd been reading Dave's match reports as long I had been a fan. The meeting itself proved to be an extremely positive as we went through my report and another one that I had written of a subsequent game against Rochdale, and both decided what he was suggesting would be the style I would adopt going forwards. Indeed, my report of the Torquay vs Exeter game would later form the basis of game 32 in my first book on the Gulls Torquay United: A History in 50 Matches - which Dave would later describe as 'a lovingly researched work.'
I also asked him for some more general advice about Journalism and forging a career within it.
My path would cross with Dave's a few years later whilst on work experience with Herald Express when I was studying for my NCTJ Pre-Entry Certificate in Newspaper Journalism, and then through my involvement with Torquay United programme and the short-lived Gullsworld Magazine.
Then in 2009, I became a regular in the Plainmoor press area working alongside Dave, firstly for the Football League Paper until 2014 and then the Non League Paper from 2015 onwards. Whilst the likes of Ross Reid, John Uzzell and Guy Henderson to name but a few have come and gone, Dave has been a constant during that time. Indeed, I was present at the unveiling of his all-time team from his 56 years of covering the Gulls' fortunes for both the Herald Express and the Torbay Weekly and reported on United's 2-0 win over Farnborough the next day.
During Dave's 50 plus years in Journalism, he has witnessed plenty of change to the industry including the transition from the days of hot metal to the micro chip and the change from the Herald Express from being a daily paper to a weekly. Nevertheless, whilst he doesn't have a presence on social media, he did play a key role in the Herald Express Yellow Army Podcast until 2020, which he still appears on as an occasional guest.
Journalists covering the club in the future will know of Dave, as it has been announced that the club' new media suite will be named in his honour.
And finally from me Dave, if you decide to write a book on your time covering the Gulls - I'm definitely buying it!
