Bernard’s teaching career began in 1949 at Elm St Secondary school, Middleton. This extract from his memoirs, later in his career, (following Manchester schools re-organisation in 1967) as head of Hillary House, at the former Birley High, shows the sort of teacher he was:- “I had 18 teachers in Hillary House, and 300 of the 1200 pupils on the school roll. I knew the name of every one, and discussed their progress or problems with 75% of their parents. Perforce I visited those who, due to shift work, or other reasons, could not come to school.” From being the only one in the N.U.T. at Birley, his recruiting resulted in membership there rising to 50. He was successfully voted to the M.T.A. General Committee and held the office of Membership Organiser for many years, and was a regular delegate to the N.U.T. Annual Conference. In 1969 his active garnering of support at a Manchester Teachers Association (M.T.A.) Emergency meeting for a proposed national strike contributed to the interim pay award then settled by the N.U.T. in 1970. The increase in M.T.A. membership continued during 1972 partly as a result of Bernard’s innovation of having N.U.T. ‘sponsor secretaries’ at many local teacher training colleges, and also because of his hectic lunch-time visits to assist the N.U.T. representatives in other schools. All this activity enabled Bernard, as M.T.A., Membership Organiser, to convene an anti-education cuts meeting in 1973, of all Manchester N.U.T. representatives. Bernard also succeeded in securing agreement from Manchester Education Committee for facilities for 1-day in-service T.U. training in school time, for all N.U.T. representatives. When he retired in 1980, Bernard’s final legacy for N.U.T. members, and all teachers in Manchester, was his success in being the first Manchester teacher to gain pension enhancement, paving the way for future retiring teachers to do likewise. His lifelong commitment against fascism was reflected during the Anti-Nazi League rally in 1978, in Manchester, when many pupils of Birley, which was located in a highly mixed-race community, joined the march, and Bernard joined the N.U.T. contingent which carried a banner “Teachers Against the Nazis”.