Purr-fect place for cats

DOGS have been banned from a new veterinary business set up exclusively for feline friends and small animals.

Nine Lives Veterinary Centre, the first of it’s kind in Hertfordshire, has just opened in Redbourn and boasts a calming atmosphere with homely surroundings for poorly pets.

The centre also uses state of the art equipment and medicines especially designed for smaller pets, so animal lovers can have peace of mind that their pets are in safe hands.

The centre at The Priory in High Street, was set up by 27-year-old vet Emily Boreham, after she got fed up with seeing cats stressed out by dogs in waiting rooms.

She said: “I got very tired and demoralised by seeing cats sitting next to barking dogs absolutely petrified in waiting rooms.”

Emily, who lives in Watford, is only one of a small handful of people in the country to set up a veterinary centre specifically for cats, rabbits and reptiles.

It is in line with the Feline Advisory Bureau, a charity dedicated to promoting the health and welfare of cats, which is now encouraging vets to be more sensitive to cats and other small pets.

Emily said: “There is a growing feeling that cats are treated as secondary to dogs when they go to vets.

“Our centre is really calming and relaxing. There are no dogs at all so cats won’t get stressed out.”

It is also one of the first in Herts to use a new anaesthetic, Sevo, which puts animals to sleep with less stress and is much safer to use making it ideal for small pets.

Emily said: “It is the cutting edge of anaesthetic, it is much safer. We have also got cutting edge equipment specifically for these types of animals.

“The x-ray machine goes down to a much finer level so that it can even x-ray a tiny rat and the ultra-sound scanner and anaesthetic equipment is for smaller species, which is something you wouldn’t usually get.”

Based in the old doctors’ surgery, the centre has separate wards and exercise areas to keep susceptible animals, like rabbits, birds and reptiles away from cats staying.

Emily graduated from the Royal Vet College in Potters Bar five-years-ago
and since then had been working in a Watford practice before setting up her own business.

She likes to take her work home with her and has collected a whole host of pets she could not bear to let go.

She has two cats, two tortoises, two chickens, two rabbits, a chameleon and a terrier dog.

Job market is strong says report

THINGS are looking good on the jobs front.
In the last quarter of last year the number of appointments rose along with the higher demands for staff.

And, due to the shortage of qualified candidates, average salaries for permanent staff also continued to match, following the old supply and demand dictum.

But opportunities for temporary/contract employees remained broadly unchanged following a decline in the previous quarter.

The figures come from the East of England Report on Jobs.

Although the number of people placed in permanent jobs by recruitment consultancies in the area rose for the eleventh quarter in a row, the rate of increase, however, slowed to the least marked since the second quarter of 2003, and was below the UK average.

And although salaries rose for the ninth consecutive quarter, these were still below the national average. But hourly pay rates for temporary/contract workers also continued to rise.

Café culture in the woods

London bombings trigger life swap
A NARROW escape from last summer’s London bombings prompted commuter Amy Meenaghan to opt for a life-style change which launched her on a new business.

Amy, aged 25, of Oak Street, Hemel Hempstead travelled to her London job late on that fateful day, July 7, or she would have been caught up in the Aldwych blast.

It made her look at things in a different light - which explains why she gave up a career that could have made her a forensic psychologist - like TV’s Cracker.

Amy and her partner Jon Warbrick have both packed in their city jobs, he was a design consultant in Wimbledon and opted instead to run a woodland café in Wendover Woods, expected to open on Saturday, January 28.

They are also being helped financially by Amy’s mum Sally Meenaghan and Graham Siburn, who already run a similar venture in Salcey Forest, Northamptonshire.

Amy took a BSc degree in psychology and followed it up with an MA in criminal psychology at Portsmouth University. But her job in Victoria was not as hands-on as she had expected and the couple were each spending two hours a day on the train.

She fell in love with Wendover Woods and with the co-operation of the Forestry Commission the venture surged ahead.

Amy said: “It totally transformed my mum’s life when she opened a tea room in Salcey Forest last year - she’s having a fabulous time”.

And Jon, 28, said: “It’s all private money going into it - we have taken a lease with the Forestry Commission. We’re putting up the building ourselves. We shall have hot and cold meals, a cook and home made cakes from a local baker.”

Amy added: “We’re just a stone’s throw from the children’s play area and the car park. A few steps further on and you’re on some of the loveliest woodland walks in England. I’m very excited about it.”

“The café will be a 40-seater with two verandahs and lovely views of the sun going down over the Vale of Aylesbury,” Jon added.

“We’ll be concentrating more on meals rather than just cream teas.”
Business looks set to be brisk with more than 200,000 people visiting the woodland near Aylesbury every year.

Forestry Commission recreation coordinator Jo Mason said other new developments were set to make the 325 hectare woodland more popular than ever.

The site’s l.5mile long fitness-trail has just been improved and upgraded and extra barbecue facilities are due to be installed for private parties.

And work will begin next month to close off and isolate a stretch of forest road. It will make the perfect place for parents to teach youngsters to ride their bikes, well away from traffic dangers.

For more information ring 01296 625825. For details of facilities at other

Forestry Commission woodlands visit  www.forestry.gov.uk/recreation

Formal talks hope to settle court dispute over pay deal

AN ACAS decision to ‘call in’ negotiations between the magistrates courts staff union and their bosses, the Department for Constitutional Affairs, on a pay dispute, is seen as significant by a spokesman in the West Hertfordshire service.

Peter Court, usher team leader in West Herts courts at Hemel Hempstead and Watford, said: “Calling it in means the matter is considered to be so serious it must be resolved.

“You cannot have magistrates courts left in a situation where there could be strikes.”

Formal talks between the Public and Commercial Services Union and the Department have now started.

Dissatisfaction about pay for administrative staff and ushers goes back to April 2004.

They were angry at the offer of a below inflation pay increase, of 2.2 per cent, for the majority of staff.

They have been transferred from local authorities to the Civil Service and now into a new combined agency, Her Majesty’s Court Service, which runs magistrates, crown and county courts.

The UK‘s sixth biggest union, PCS represents civil and public servants in central government, with more than 325,000 members.

Of some 14,000 people working for HMCS, 7,800 work in magistrates courts.

The pay dispute provoked the first ever strike of court staff and a big increase in union members in West Herts.

It was followed by the introduction of work to rule which has had an effect, with a build-up of paper work and case adjournments.

“In the past the goodwill of staff kept business running smoothly,” said Mr Court, adding that it was a wholly new situation for staff who had never previously been involved in industrial action.

There has been a new offer, of 3.7 per cent, a higher amount than the Treasury advised.

Department spokesman Peter O’Connor said reports from courts did not show too much disruption, all main business proceeding as planned.

The union has agreed not to escalate industrial action further until the dispute is  resolved.

Make a date for lunch

THE next networking lunch being held in Hemel Hempstead by members of Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce will be on Tuesday, February 21.
The lunches are designed to help local business people build up contacts, promote their companies and do business with each other.
The lunch is also open to non-members.
For more details and cost inquiries contact the chamber on 01727 813680.