AT a recent meeting of Ross Rotary Club, Eden Tanner gave an informative and highly amusing talk on his life as a vet in Ledbury. He recalled the time his father decided he'd had enough of office work and started a pig farm in Lancashire. Three year old Eden used to ride around the farm in his toy tractor with a piglet in the trailer and at five years old was taking a great interest in what the local vet was doing, especially at pig post-mortems. Everyone associated with young Eden at the time said "he'll be a vet" and he was.

Eden said although his main interest at university was sport he did eventually qualify as a veterinary surgeon and took up a post in Kingsbridge, Devon. He told some very funny stories based on his life as a vet and characters he met in both Kingsbridge and Ledbury, some of which he assured the audience were true. He also talked about the changing face of veterinary surgery over the past few years. Around 90% of the intake for veterinary college are now woman and after qualification more graduates are specialising rather than go into general practice.

In summing up Eden said "when you're looking for your keys and your pockets are full of syringes and pills - you know you're a vet. When you're eating your sandwiches at lunchtime and you suddenly realise you haven't washed your hands - you know you're a vet. When you're on half the salary of people with lesser degrees - you know you're a vet. When you get home at 1am having been kicked and bruised by a horse - you know you're a vet. But you also know you wouldn't want to do anything else in the world.

Ross Rotary meets every Monday evening 6.30pm for 7pm at the Chase Hotel. Guests and potential members are very welcome. Please visit our website at www.rossrotary.com.