A celebrated new film sheds light on a condition David Preece knows all about. He tells Erik Petersen about a lifelong struggle with stammering that he’s now winning...

DAVID Preece would sit in meetings at work, disagreeing with what was being said but not wanting to speak up.

He didn't fear his bosses or lack confidence in his ideas. He simply knew that, because he spoke with a stammer, getting the words out would be more trouble than it was worth.

One particular problem was words starting with "b". Not the best problem to have when you work as a book buyer.

"I would say 'I purchase children's titles for a library supplier'," David said.

"I was meeting lots of people from the publishing world and just stammering away at them."

David, from Wollaton, was in his 40s before he went to his GP for help and was referred to a speech therapist.

That was more than 20 years ago – today he can talk comfortably and confidently.

He will speak about his impediment tomorrow at the Broadway Cinema in Hockley before morning and afternoon screenings of The King's Speech.

The Oscar-tipped film stars Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as the pioneering Australian speech therapist who helped him overcome a profound stammer.

"Until I got into speech therapy I think I was quite a different person," David said.

"I've had a lot of speech therapy in the last few years and it's improved my speech quite a bit.

"It also improved my confidence as well. I suppose I was quite introverted."

As a schoolboy David, now 69, never got any help for his stammer.

"Speech therapy wasn't as high-profile as it is today," he said. "Certainly the services weren't there as much as they are today.

"I think because of that I became quite introverted and in a way, quite isolated. In a way the stammer controlled me."

Cricket became a favourite pastime – he could sit for hours at Trent Bridge, wrapped up in a match and secure in the knowledge he wouldn't have to talk to anybody.

But even cricket couldn't be trusted. A talented school cricketer, he was invited to play for a club. He arrived at the ground for his trial and, looking out at the 20 or 30 cricketers already there, panicked at having to introduce himself. He got back on his bicycle and left without saying a word.

That fear and behaviour modification continued into adulthood.

At work, a matchmaking co-worker pointed out a young lady she thought David would like. But he wouldn't – couldn't – say anything.

Eventually he wrote a letter that the matchmaking colleague offered to deliver.

Joyce received the letter and sympathised with the predicament of its sender.

After 46 years of marriage, they have two sons and two grandchildren.

Like many stammerers, David found ways to avoid situations where his inability to communicate might cause problems.

Through the years Joyce answered the phone and the door, and did most of the talking on social occasions.

Meanwhile David never considered that there might be help available.

Finally in desperation, he asked his GP if there was anything at all to be done.

Of course there is, the doctor said.

"I never even knew that NHS service existed," David said.

He began something called slow-prolonged speech technique. Progress didn't happen overnight. Slowly though, David gained ability and confidence.

The British Stammering Association became another important part of his improvement.

"I joined them in 1985 and I became a trustee in 1987," he said.

"I really enjoyed it. To meet people from all walks of life, all different types of people who stammered, to get to know them and talk about the different experiences we'd had was an absolute revelation."

He served as a trustee until 1999 and remains an active member, volunteering weekly on a helpline that fields calls from anybody from worried parents to adult stammerers like him.

He also started a Nottingham self-help group that still runs today.

He sees The King's Speech as a rare opportunity – a film that paints an accurate, moving picture of stammering rather than playing it strictly for laughs or making the shifty-eyed stammerer into the baddie.

Organisations such as the British Stammering Association can use this to educate more people about a speech impediment that can be cured.

"If you get to them at an early age," he said, "it can be corrected quite easily."

The King's Speech is out now. David speaks before Thursday's 10.30am and 1.30pm screenings.

For more information on stammering and the help that's available, visit www.stammering.org or call the BSA hotline on 0845 603 2001.

For information on the Nottingham self-help group, call 01159 532177 or e-mail msslade@fidler.co.uk.