In the beginning...
I couldn't wait to get started on living, so I was born a couple of weeks early in Essex. After a month or so in an incubator, I was allowed home where I lived until the family moved to Chalfont St. Peter in Buckinghamshire when I was about 6 months old until I left home. This was the longest time I have lived in one place!
Education
I attended the local Primary and CSP village Middle School before moving to Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Amersham. I took my O levels and A/S levels with a heavy science bias before going on to studying Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol. Family and friends have told me that I always wanted to be a vet from a very young age, although I can't really remember when I decided.
I enjoyed my time at University where I also spent time learning how to kayak with the BUCC and went away on various weekend and Summer Paddling Expeditions to Devon, Usk, Gower and the Alps, amongst others. They were great days of paddling, walking, drinking games and yarning!! The Bristol Vet Student Association, called Centaur, held regular formal and informal events that it would have been rude not to attend, so I did.
This photo was taken on the day we heard that we had all qualified... I think it's probably one of the best photos ever taken of me. I had a good tan that year. Thanks to my great friend Phil (who I've known since our Challoner's days) who rode out with me while we cycled 20 miles before breakfast every morning, it was probably the fittest I've ever been in my life too.
Shortly after this Phil and I completed the Bristol to London Audi 100 ride which started at Temple Meads in Bristol, and followed the A4, finishing at Sandown Race Course if I remember correctly. On the ride, we joined a group of cyclists who formed a mini peloton and kept up a very respectable 26mph average over the c120 miles. The problem now is that I still expect to average 18+mph when I ride out on my own, as I used to back then!!
Work
My first job was for the University of Bristol Farm Department on the Out-of-Hours rota the day I was admitted to the RCVS. It was rather daunting the first time I headed out, especially as by the definition of being an "Emergency Service", it wasn't necessarily something very routine. It wasn't made any easier knowing that the Head of Dept was going out that evening and I had no official back-up. Anyway, it stood me in good stead for my first proper full job.
I had been lucky to see practice during my student days with Hampden Veterinary Practice based in Aylesbury, Bucks. I am forever grateful to Ian Baker who taught me the art of being a Vet and who employed me as an Assistant Vet for Hampden Vets in the Farm Department. I always aspire to being as good a vet as Ian was, and if I'm in a tricky situation I try to do what I think Ian would do in the same situation. My time there gave me a great grounding in farm vet work and a healthy social life within the pratice too. My house became the practice party venue, and I think great times were had by all.
It was here that I got my first terrier called TD who came from one of our Dairy Farm clients on the Waddesdon Estate. He was Border Terrier x JRT and had the best nature as long as you weren't a rodent. He was a great character and loved by all who knew him throughout his life until he was nearly 17 years old. He was a very special dog in many ways. Many of the treatments I use were first used on him and me for assessment before offering them to the public.
You could always tell where TD had been, or was, at a social gathering by watching out for which people were mimicking his sit up and beg as shown in the photo! He always knew who the weak people were who would submit to his charms and feed him! This posture gained him soooo many tidbits over the years!!
He was also a great swimmer, but only discovered his love for the water when he accidentally fell into a stream on the New Forest. On one occasion he swam all round Hatchet Pond whilst I walked the shore.
He would always try to carry the biggest stick he could find too and didn't care whose legs he bashed with it when he was carrying it.
I left Hampden Vets and moved south to the New Forest area where I joined one of the then oldest and most established practices in the UK, known as Gould's. Brothers, Colin and Alan had taken over the family practice from their father who was a formidable and extraordinary man by all accounts, known as GN.
In both practices I was encouraged to think for myself. When new products came out we often tried them for multiple different situations on and off-licence. There was no Cascade system of prescribing and we used whatever worked - whether it was some old recipe that had been handed down from times before Pharma, or newly launched pharmaceuticals. Legislation stopped the use of the old concoctions and unfortunately they were difficult to replace, which is why they had lasted in use so long.
I remember when ultrasound for pregnancy testing first came out for cattle. Ian and I spent an afternoon testing ourselves with manual PD-ing against the ultrasound with some early in-calf heifers. We decided that we were as accurate as it was down to 4.5 weeks and faster with no cables and electricity required.
It was this attitude of trying new things and ideas that led me to becoming a convert to Energy Medicine. I had been applying magnets on fuel pipes for vehicles and central heating systems with great results in getting a more efficient fuel burning and stopping limescale forming. When the company whose products I was using branched out into Magnotherapy I was less sure. I had no belief or understanding of anything considered "alternative" at that time. To cut a long story short, I tried the magnetic dog collar with unexpected results. In line with habits I'd learnt from Ian and Colin, I started trying magnotherapy for all sorts of different cases where I thought they might help. They frequently did, and this led to an article on the use of magnotherapy for downer cows in Farmer's Weekly.
From Magnotherapy, I was introduced to SCENAR (Self-Controlled Energy Neuro Adapative Regulation) and its derivative Cosmodic and ENS modulations that I use to this day. My association with SCENAR brought me into contact with many like-minded individuals who were vastly more experienced in all manner of different techniques. It was a fast learning curve. I soaked it all up and set about learning and understanding the Quantum Physics that underpins all Energy Medicine. Nikola Tesla got it right when he advised people to think in terms of frequency. I have treated elite horses from virtually all disciplines, as well as Olympian and International athletes from a variety of sports on the human side too.
My Work page links through to my work websites that cover everything I do in my clinical life in more detail.