A WEATHER-vane featuring the profile of an adult Siberian Eagle Owl and young owl crowns the £750,000 new Eye Veterinary Clinic at Marlbrook, near Leominster.

The specialist animal hospital has been up and running for a year but senior partner Paul Evans invited one of the country's leading vets to unveil a plaque at an official opening ceremony earlier this month.

Dr Keith Barnett OBE was Paul's college lecturer at Cambridge University in the 1960s, a man he describes as his mentor.

Dr Barnett fostered Paul's early interest in animal ophthalmology. After 20 years in general veterinary practice in Leominster Paul went on to specialise in treating eye problems in all kinds of animals and birds at his former base at Eye, near Luston.

Vets all over the country refer 'patients' to Marlbrook. On Saturday, June 21, some of those same vets and veterinary nurses will be attending an open day for professionals.