The Yorkshire Vet: From Cambridge, to Henley-upon-Thames and the Great Yorkshire Show in a week

Stressful as these occasions can be for me, it was wonderful to see a bunch of new vets who were all so eager, so enthusiastic and so excited to be admitted to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

I can’t remember having seen so many happy and smiling faces all in the same place for a while!

Anne and I chatted with some of the new vets, including one whose mother had been at the same college as Anne thirty years previously, and another with whose mother I’d studied with.

It was amazing to catch up with the two proud parents after so long. I also met the parents of a friend from the mountaineering club at Cambridge.

He’d graduated ahead of me and was a star of the vet school, but sadly died in a climbing accident. In memory of their son, they had donated a prize for travel to facilitate extra learning and they attended the ceremony each year.

Afterwards, we went for dinner in Sidney Sussex college.

Situated in the heart of the city, it was affectionately known by all undergraduates as “Sidney Sainsbury’s”, because of its proximity to the popular supermarket. But tonight’s meal was very pleasant.

We chatted to various important people – the president of the RCVS and the Dean of the Vet School amongst others. We used this rare opportunity to interrogate them on various issues affecting clinical vets in practice at present and we enjoyed some interesting discussions.

We both had most of the following week off work and next stop was Henley-upon-Thames for the Royal Regatta. With the graduation ceremony, followed by Henley, multiple smart outfits were required and our campervan, uncharacteristically, resembled a mobile wardrobe.

We’d be seeing both our lads, immersed (not literally) in the world of rowing. There were stripy and colourful blazers, boaters and Panama hats and floaty dresses everywhere, as well as international athletes competing down the one-and-a-half-mile reach.

The dress code in the “Stewards” enclosure was strict. At one point, we noticed a chap being reprimanded for removing his jacket. I was very smart, but I was also pulled up for not having the top button fastened on my shirt, which seemed rather extreme. I never fasten my top button!

Henley Royal Regatta is basically like Wimbledon but with boats instead of balls, or the Euros without the goals. Crews race each other side by side.

The loser gets knocked out and the winner progresses to the next day, culminating in the finals on Sunday, when World Champions assemble to battle for the prestigious trophies.

Neither Jack or Archie progressed to finals day (at least, not this year), but it was still a thrill for them to compete on the course against top-class opponents.

But this holiday was more of a mini-break and on the Thursday, we packed up the campervan and headed back to Yorkshire as work beckoned. It was good to get home, collecting Emmy from where she had been staying.

But there was no time to put away my smart outfit as I had an appointment at The Great Yorkshire Show where I was in the actual ring, alongside the judge for the Jack Russell classes!

I was hoping that, if it was sunny, I might even bring out the Panama again – sadly, the Great British weather had other ideas!