I was born in Norfolk and raised in Yorkshire and Essex. My childhood was based mainly in urban areas and at a time when animals were not kept extensively as pets, and certainly not the variety that we recognise as pets these days. Therefore animals did not feature heavily in my early years, beyond the family dogs of friends and relations.
Becoming a vet was not a childhood dream and it was not until my mid teens that I decided that this was the career for me. This was at a time when there were a lot of youngsters desperate to be a Vet and very few girls were accepted. Despite this I followed a determined course, ignoring calls for caution from teachers and headmistress and gained a place at Veterinary College. The decision was absolutely right, I have never looked back and consider myself to be very lucky to have always enjoyed my work; finding the right levels of satisfaction, interest and challenge in every job that I have done. I do not take this for granted – but it is a privilege that I have worked hard to achieve.
I studied veterinary science at The Royal Veterinary College in London, qualifying and becoming a member of The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1979. Following qualification I moved to South Devon where I started work in mixed practice, predominantly with farm animals, at a time when it was unusual to have female vets working with the larger animals. I loved the South Hams, both the scenery and the people and have stayed ever since.
I married a farmer and had 4 daughters in fairly quick succession. It is my daughters who are probably my biggest achievement and I am immensely proud of them. They have not been easy; lively, strong willed, independent and intelligent they have taught me a lot – but also demonstrated the importance of animals for a good grounding in life and as part of the family unit.
I changed jobs to work with pet animals shortly after having my daughters and as with my time in farm work, enjoyed the community side of the work; advising people on how best to look after and enjoy their animals and considering the wellbeing of the people as much as the animals. This relationship between the animals and owners has always been important to me and I explored it further by organising puppy classes, open days and information evenings. I became more involved with child based activities as my daughters grew up; playschool committees, school governors and youth clubs as well as having a constant flow of friends and relatives children pass through the house. This made me more aware of the special interaction between animals and children and I studied some of the benefits first hand, not only at home or in the surgery, but also by taking animals into the classroom. It was at this time that I originally had the idea of writing a book.
In 2001 I joined the majority of the nation’s Vets in helping to fight the Foot and Mouth epidemic. It was following this that I joined the civil service and became a “government vet”. Since then I have enjoyed the challenge of my work, which revolves around protecting the nation’s farmed animals from disease and poor welfare practices. This is completely different work, but no less interesting or worthwhile.
My tentative steps into writing have been slow to develop and have taken second place to my work as a Vet. I am strictly a scientist, with no talent for creative writing and therefore the book has come as a surprise and the work in producing it has been long and hard. It is satisfying to produce something that can help parents and that can only improve that relationship between children and pets and this is something that means so much to me.
Now my daughters have flown the nest and I only have one dog I hope to carry on writing and produce a series of books around children and their pets and maybe even extend this to other hobbies and interests. I feel that as a vet and also as a mother of 4 daughters I am more than qualified to do so, hopefully you think so too…