Oli has joined our vet team to help us out over the summer months. Oli graduated from Cambridge vet school in 2017 and has worked in mixed animal and large animal practice since then. After her last job she took a few months off to travel and volunteer with street dogs in Latin America. Oli is very interested in sustainability, especially within veterinary medicine and agriculture. Outside of work she loves singing, reading and travelling.

Huge congratulations to vet Sarah and her husband Tom on the birth of their little boy at the end of May – the latest addition to the Dacre House family! At the time of writing we await news from vet Hannah who has just gone on maternity leave.

Finally, it is definitely worth saying that in the current national shortage of vets, we are truly blessed to be well staffed with such an incredible, hard-working and well-qualified team.

You may have spotted nurse Heather back at work, balancing life as mum and veterinary nurse. It’s wonderful to have her back on the team. Those of you who follow us on Facebook may have seen Lydia's dairy calf awards last summer. She was very excited recently to appear on 'The Farmers' Country Showdown' for her involvement in the Edenbridge and Oxted Agricultural Show. You can still catch her on BBC iplayer (episode 7)! Lastly, those of you who remember Deanna who worked with us at Dacre House for many years will be pleased to hear that she and her husband have just had a baby girl! What a lovely start to 2023.

This season has seen some new radiators, light fittings, noticeboards, gas cylinders for swivel chairs (who knew this was a simple fix to a sinking chair problem?!), a leaky roof fix, a touch more paint and some improvements to our x-ray facilities.

In November, we also welcomed Elinor to our nursing team who joins us with lots of enthusiasm and a passion for all animals. At home is Ruby the Jack Russell and Betty the cat. Elinor’s favourite thing to do outside of work is spend time with her horse, Ginny; she is also a keen show-jumper. A warm welcome to the team, Elinor!

On a final note, we’re putting the finishing touches to the drawings for our Pembury clinic and hope to be able to report the start of building work in the new year if all goes to plan.

In May we celebrated our Pembury branch having been
open for one year. We are really enjoying being part of the Pembury community and are working on plans to increase our provision there over time. Watch this space... Congratulations to vet, Becky, on the birth of her baby boy in May and to our Head Nurse Emma
on the birth of her baby boy in July! A huge thank you to Helen for standing in again to cover role of Head Nurse while Emma is on maternity leave - certainly not an easy task but one which Helen takes on whole-heartedly and very capably to keep the team going. Finally, it is wonderful to have Heather back with us on the nursing team following her maternity leave. Welcome back Heather!