‘I didn’t have to imagine the Yorkshire Dales, I could see them for myself ’
Animal lover Becky Marchewka, 44, from Shadwell, West Yorkshire, found James Herriot’s book stirred something deep inside her
‘Iowe my career to the book It Shouldn’t Happen To A Vet, which I first read when I was just eight years old. I was given it as a birthday gift by my parents and, as I devoured James Herriot’s funny and moving tales of his life as a newly qualified vet in the Yorkshire Dales, a seed was sown in my mind that would grow into a 21-year (and counting!) career.
I grew up living in Burley in Wharfedale, so when James Herriot wrote about the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, I didn’t have to imagine them, I could see them for myself. And I loved that he didn’t gloss over the realities of being a vet, yet even the graphic descriptions of delivering calves in less than balmy temperatures and the unsociable hours didn’t deter me.
I was animal-mad, walking the neighbour’s dogs and pleading with my parents for one of my own. Eventually, my parents allowed me to have a rabbit and a budgie. I adored them but just wanted to be surrounded by animals. So I worked hard at school and ended up studying veterinary science at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating in 1997, I joined the practice, Yorkshire Vets in Shadwell, Leeds, where I’ve been ever since.
I’m now a director and love that my work is so unpredictable. Every morning I walk in and have no idea what I’ll be doing that day. It could be giving a puppy its vaccinations, treating a cat for heart disease or tackling a rabbit’s dental treatment.
I have two dogs – Penny, a Labrador and Iggy, a standard poodle – and they come to work with me every day. Although not quite as mad about animals as me, my husband Daniel and our children Joseph, 12, and Emily, 10, love them too.
Veterinary science and procedures may have evolved greatly since James Herriot’s time, but being a vet is still about problem solving; piecing together the information an owner gives you about their pet, and its symptoms, to work out what’s wrong and how you can best treat it.
And, like he did, every day I have to deal with a huge spectrum of emotions. It could be the joy of a young child who has brought her new kitten in for its jabs, or an older person devastated because their dog and constant companion has to be put to sleep. I never lose sight of how important each pet is to their owner and try to make things as easy as possible for them.
It feels like everything that led me to this point is wrapped up in those Herriot books. They set me on a path to who I am today.’