Veterinary surgeons

Senior Clinical Director

Stephen grew up on a suckler cow and sheep farm in Northern Ireland. He graduated from Glasgow university in 1999, coming to Northumberland on 2003. Stephen is interested in cattle and sheep fertility, enjoys surgery, post mortems and health planning. Outside work he has his own sheep flock, a few heifers and three children.

Senior Veterinary Surgeon - Farm

Steve first came to the practice, then known as Hampden & Simonside in 1995 as an Edinburgh student and is now a Clinical Director, running the farm division. His main veterinary interests are in herd and flock health and productivity. He has a special interest in bull and ram fertility, spending a lot of his time evaluating bulls and tups for fertility before the breeding season. Steve holds a European Certificate in Beef Cattle Production. Steve and his wife Fiona, who also works as a vet with us, have two children. Outside of work he competes in triathlon and has a passion for windsurfing, kitesurfing and surfing.

Hailing from a dairy and beef farm just outside Nobber in County Meath, Ireland, Iain started at Alnorthumbria Vets after graduating from University of Liverpool in 2018. He currently works from our Wooler branch, as a mixed animal vet with particular interests in large animal and dairy work. When not at work, Iain enjoys exploring the Northumbrian countryside, from coast to hills. As part of a local rugby team in Alnwick, as well as training for triathlons, he is a keen athlete when time allows!

Originally from the Scottish Borders, Pam came to see practice here at Hampden and Simonside Vets in 2003 and hasn’t left since! She graduated in 2005 and has worked as a mixed vet since, migrating to the Wooler practice in 2007 where she does mainly small and farm animal duties. Now married to a beef and sheep farmer in Wooler she probably won’t be moving far. Pam is also involved in organising most of our farm vet and farmer meetings. Outside of work, Pam helps out on the farm, and loves endurance sports – swimming, cycling, running etc and in 2011 she walked from John O’Groats to Lands End during her sabbatical away from the practice.

Anna graduated in 2013 from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. In early 2014 she moved to Ireland and spent six months working in mixed practice, but she soon realised that farm was her main interest. Later that year she moved to Scotland completed a two-year farm animal internship at the University of Glasgow’s Scottish Centre for Production Animal Health and Food Safety (SCPAHFS), combined with a Master’s Degree in animal disease surveillance and BVD. In October 2017 she joined the Alnorthumbria team. Anna is based at the Rothbury branch and works mainly with farm animals, but is also helping with small animal consultations. In her spare time she enjoys surfing, cycling, photography and spending time outdoors exploring Northumberland.

Simon joined Hampden & Simonside Vets in 2002 and was previously involved in gamebird work for Hy-Fly Hatchery, Lancs. Since 2002 he has spent most of his time developing the small animal facilities at Alnwick but also enjoys occasional farm visits. Since the retirement of Jo Gidlow, Simon Caple has taken over the main responsibility for game birds in the group.

Richard grew up in Belsay and school in Ponteland, before qualifying in 2008 at the University of Liverpool. He then spent seven years working in the Yorkshire dales as a mixed practitioner, a calving season in New Zealand, and returned to Northumberland in 2016. He currently enjoys farm and small animal work, and is working towards his post graduate certificate in advanced small animal surgery. Outside of work, interests include skiing, hiking, and home brewing.

Max joined Alnorthumbria in September 2016 after spending a year in Tipperary, Ireland working as an intern in a large equine referral hospital which specialised in racehorses and performance horses. Max graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2015 and now works as a mixed vet concentrating on farm and equine work. His main interests include lameness, surgery and anaesthesia. Originally from the area he spends the majority of his time on the Northumberland coast or away in his campervan where tries to kitesurf, surf and ski whenever he can.

Jodie graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2016. She spent her first two years in mixed practice in North Yorkshire before becoming part of the team here, at Alnorthumbria. She is interested in all aspects of being a mixed vet, and works mainly from our Rothbury and Morpeth branches. Outside of work, Jodie enjoys cooking and baking for her friends, as well as exploring the beautiful countryside that Northumberland has to offer!

John is the son of a third generation dairy farmer and was brought up on a 165 acre rented dairy farm in Perthshire. Having started milking cows at four years of age, it was, perhaps, inevitable that livestock would feature in his future. John qualified from the Dick Vet in Edinburgh in 1984, came straight to Alnwick to work for Curry, Clark, Malone and Young in 1984, and was invited to join the partnership in 1988. He developed a broad interest in mixed practice and still enjoys treating companion animals and horses as well farm species. His areas of responsibility are medicines, finance and the Wagonway Road Alnwick branch. John’s input to veterinary politics/business includes BVA council, North of England Veterinary Association council, Society of Practicing Veterinary Surgeons council and XL Vets founder director. In all of these forums John tries to represent the interests of his farm clients. He has published articles for British Cattle Veterinary Association and the BVA’s educational journal as well as the occasional article in the farming press. Away from work, time is spent on the hill, on the sea or on his bike.

Claire qualified from Edinburgh University in 2004, and has worked for the practice ever since. Working out of the Alnwick branch, she does a mix of farm and small animal work and enjoys all aspects of mixed practice. Her areas of particular interest are sheep medicine and small animal medicine. She achieved a certificate in Advanced veterinary practice (Cert AVP) in January 2019. She has completed a foundation course in Western Veterinary Acupuncture, which she uses to treat both small and farm animals.

Out of work, Claire enjoys running in the hills, skiing, walking her dogs, and cooking. Repeated attempts to improve her garden are thwarted by a lack of time and skill!

Daisy is originally from Bath and decided to become a vet after spending a lot of her childhood on a small holding in West Cornwall where she discovered her love for all animals great or small. She graduated in 2019 and came straight to Alnorthumbria to work in mixed practice. In her spare time, Daisy enjoys playing netball, horse riding, and long walks. She has been getting to know Northumberland after lambing here for the past five years and is looking forward to exploring new places on her days off.

Jonny is originally from Jarrow but spent a lot of his teenage years working on a hill farm near Hexham, which was part of the motivation for him becoming a vet. He has particular interests in surgery and reproductive health in cattle and sheep. Outside of work Jonny enjoys running, tinkering with anything mechanical, drinking coffee and clay pigeon shooting (although slightly out of practice currently!). Jonny graduated in 2019 and joined the team at Alnorthumbria immediately as a mixed practice vet.

Marissa graduated from Edinburgh university in 2008 after which she spent four years in farm animal practice in Shropshire and the midlands. She has been a farm animal locum ever since. Most recently she has enjoyed working and teaching for the last year with the Dairy Herd Health and Productivity department at the University of Edinburgh. Marissa has an interest in, and is currently finishing, a MSc in Ruminant Nutrition.

As a co-founder of the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society (BVEDS) she is passionate about mentoring students and pupils of colour and advocating for more diversity in the veterinary sector. When she’s not locuming you will find Marissa happily in the sheep shed at lambing, running with the dog (and the husband) and cooking excellent Thai food.

Originally from an East Yorkshire farming family, Andrew moved to Alnwick in 1989 via Bristol University and a job in Zimbabwe. He joined the partnership at the merger of Hampden and Simonside Veterinary practices in 1991. Since then his work has been almost totally with farmstock and is a founder member of The North Northumberland Suckler cow discussion group. He has a particular interest in disease prevention and fertility. He also participates in vaccine trial work.