Mark Newton-Clarke

MA VetMB PhD MRCVS

Qualifying from Cambridge in 1985, I joined a general practice in Grantham, treating both small and large animals. After 2 happy years and then married to Tracey, we moved to Bristol where I joined the Vet School at Langford. Four years later, I was awarded a PhD for research in immunology. By that time, Tracey and I had moved to the United States, working at Cornell University in Upstate New York.  A wonderful place where we were challenged and inspired in equal measure, me at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Tracey in the Department of Ornithology. Returning to the UK, life became very busy with the arrival of our daughter, Anna and then our son, Freddie, not to mention opening the Sherborne practice at Station House. Twenty-three years later, the business has grown ten-fold under the guidance and now ownership of Matt. I couldn’t be happier with the succession (well, if my daughter had chosen to be a vet rather than a doctor, I might have been!)

I now work two days a week in Sherborne and occasionally in Yeovil, trying to achieve the work-life balance that eluded me for 30 years!  I guess the question arises whether digging the allotment or walking Portia the Labrador and Jessica the terrier is “work” or “life”?