Good to see that John Bower MRCVS has been awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list. As well as his stirling work for his own practice, for BVA and BVA Animal Welfare Foundation, John was always a staunch supporter of National Pet Month and its predecessor National Pet Week. Indeed, his former practice in Estover, Plymouth was a former winner of our best event competition, and even since John’s retirement has been a runner up in the veterinary category. Their excellent established Open Day in National Pet Month shows just what an opportunity NPM can give a practice - or indeed any pet care business - to show pet owners just what they have to offer their animals and to have some fun too!

John recognised these benefits to the extent that a number of years ago he wrote an small brochure giving some very handy pointers for vet practices planning events - I am going to be hunting through our NPM paperwork and putting a pdf copy into our ‘resources’ section for supporters to try and offer some inspiration.

So think beyond the ice and snow and start to plan your 2010 National Pet Month event - we will be contacting supporters very soon to offer 2010 event information.

Happy New Year!