I was born in Edinburgh on a hot Tuesday afternoon in July 1968.  The youngest of three children, I was always ambitious and competitive and decided I wanted to be a vet from a very early ages.  As a youngster I enjoyed team games and was on my school hockey, lacrosse and tennis teams.

I worked hard and got my place on the veterinary course in Edinburgh, starting at the Dick Vet in 1986.  At Uni I loved the small animal work, especially the challenging medical cases, and graduated in July 1991.  I had seen practice during my veterinary degree at a small, two person practice in Invergordon in the North of Scotland and when I graduated, they offered me a job.  I started my working life in the cold and snow doing work with horses and small and farm animals.  Within two weeks of starting work I got my first dog, a little golden Cocker Spaniel, I called Rowan.

After two  years there I decided to spread my wings and so started doing locum work, first in Aberdeenshire and then in Kirkham and Lancashire.  I loved working here, with more facilities and opportunities to work up cases and so when Tony Helme offered me a permanent position, I gladly accepted.

After two years I became a partner in the business and continued to put my heart and soul into developing the practice.  My passion was always improving the service we offered and I especially enjoyed getting to know the clients and developing a bond with them and their animals.  In 2004, Tony and his wife decided they wanted to retire and so I took on the practice myself.  My first dog, Rowan, had died in 2001 and I wanted to mark how much he had meant to me so called the business Rowan Veterinary Centre.

With more autonomy to develop the services we offered, I continued to grow the business and our team gradually got bigger.  As the business grew the building we were in became unsuitable and so I started to realise my next ambition of building my own premises.  I found an old pig farm just outside Kirkham and set about designing and building premises suitable for modern day practice.

Over the years I have worked alongside many brilliant vets and when Drew started working with us in 2007, we just clicked!  We both had very similar values and ambitions and so in 2014 after ten years of running things on my own, he joined me as co-director.

We have continued to continuously drive the practice forward with the help of our amazing team and I am so proud to continue to be part of Rowan Veterinary Centre.