Jan Davies RVN
Head Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Jan qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2005. She worked for us as a locum in 2012 and stayed on as permanent member of staff. Previously she has worked in the Northwest in a mixed animal practice and also a cat only clinic. She loves cats and is our resident cat whisperer! She is owned by her naughty Tuxedo cat Theo. Outside of work she enjoys travelling, yoga, hiking/walking, crafty things and random challenges. Her challenge for this year is the Inca trail, previous challenges include climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and sky diving!
Elaine McDowell RVN
Head Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Felixstowe Surgery
Elaine is head nurse at our Felixstowe surgery and has been there since 2005. She previously lived, worked and trained in Yorkshire, where she qualified in 1990. She won the first ever Veterinary Nurse of the Year award in 1991, having been nominated by several of her clients. She holds the Hills nutritional Advisor level 1 award and is able to assist clients in the correct diets for their pets and also run weight clinics. She also runs puppy socialisation classes, as she has a keen interest in and has studied animal behaviour.
Natalie Willis RVN
Head Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich surgery
Natalie began working for the Ryder-Davies & Partners team in May 2017. She previously lived, worked and trained in Cheshire. Natalie started her veterinary career at the age of 17 when she became a nursing assistant, and then went on to qualify as a Registered Veterinary Nurse in 2009. Natalie enjoys all aspects of nursing and has a particular interest in critical care & wound management. Outside of work she enjoys socialising and exploring the world. Natalie is also a keen cook and enjoys baking in her spare time.
Jamie Biggs RVN
Deputy Head Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Originally from East London, Jamie qualified as an RVN in 2011 and spent 10 years working in an exotic and ophthalmic referral centre in Romford.
He came to Ryder-Davies & Partners in 2017 as a locum and spent time working at both the Woodbridge & Ipswich surgeries before staying on as a permanent member of staff.
He still has a keen interest in exotic animals and also very much enjoys surgical nursing. His interest outside of work include photography, astronomy, home brewing and playing the piano.
Harriet Hunter Blair RVN
Equine Office Manager and Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Harriet started her career in Sussex and then went on to Berkshire College of Agriculture to gain her Veterinary Nursing Qualification. She has predominantly worked in Small Animal Practice, however after relocating to Suffolk, she worked at Rossdales Equine Hospital in Newmarket where she gained a lot of her equine experience. She is married with two children, two dogs, two ponies and a handful of chickens.
Nicky Abbott RVN CC
Registered Veterinary Nurse and Clinical Coach at the Woodbridge Surgery
Nicky qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2003 and became an AI assessor in 2005 to enable her to assist other trainee veterinary nurses in their nurse training. She mainly enjoys being in theatre assisting with orthopaedic procedures and enjoys all aspects of equine nursing. In her own time she is very busy with her three children and helping out on her husband’s family farm. They have horses and three working terriers. She also looks after and exercises horses for two local families. She spends her evenings doing artwork for local exhibitions, concentrating mainly on horses and dogs.
Michelle Thomas RVN CC
Registered Veterinary Nurse and Clinical Coach at the Woodbridge Surgery
Tegen Dovey RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Tegen started at Ryder-Davies & Partners in 2016 as a Saturday assistant at our Woodbridge practice. In September 2017 Tegen began on her journey to become an RVN. She has now finished her training and is enjoying life as a Veterinary Nurse!
Tegen is a very keen horse rider and owns an Irish Sports horse called Munchie, who she enjoys to compete on (when he wants to be caught!).
Keira Havell RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Keira qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse in 2021 when she graduated from the Royal Veterinary College. She started working at the Woodbridge surgery in September 2021.
Whilst at work, Keira enjoys laboratory work, anaesthesia and being in theatre, as well as diagnostic imaging, and emergencies and critical care.
Outside of work she enjoys being outdoors and will be found in the mountains, skiing, hiking, and biking.
Katie Markham RVN
Deputy Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Katie first joined our Ipswich surgery in 2006 as a kennel assistant. After 2 years as a kennel assistant she embarked on her veterinary nurse training and became a qualified registered veterinary nurse in 2011. She is particularly interested in puppy socialisation. At home she has quite a collection of animals which include two rabbits, a Spaniel called Ellie and a miniature Dachshund called Ralph, whom she enjoys taking long walks with.
Lucy Clifford RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Lucy qualified as an RVN in 2020 after being in practice since leaving school for 5 years. She joined the Woodbridge Surgery in August 2022 and is enjoying life as an RVN. Lucy enjoys most areas of nursing but is particularly interested in anesthesia and in-patient care. She enjoys spending time with her two dogs, Milly and Kiera, and elderly horse Bruce.
Helen Emmerson RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Helen is a registered veterinary nurse and has worked for us for many years. She mainly works at our Ipswich surgery and enjoys every aspect of being a veterinary nurse and especially enjoys doing weight clinics.
Laura Cook RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Laura qualified as a veterinary nurse in 2016. She enjoys all aspects of nursing, with an interest in caring for hospitalised patients. Laura also has a love for all things cat related!
Laura is married and has two cats at home called Buddy and Bob. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking in the countryside and nature photography.
Claire Kennedy RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Claire started working at our Woodbridge surgery as a trainee veterinary nurse in 2001 where she did her training and qualified in 2004. She is married and has 2 little boys who keep her very busy. Since having her children she has worked part time at our Ipswich surgery. At home she has 3 rabbits, and 2 dogs called Fly and Sunny, both border collies who she enjoys taking for long walks and doing agility training with.
Ashleigh Vincent RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge surgery and Emergency OOH team
Ashleigh has been working as an out of hours and day nurse at the Woodbridge branch since June 2019. She Qualified as a Registered Veterinary Nurse in 2017 from The College of Animal Welfare. Ashleigh enjoys her role as a hybrid nurse as she has the opportunity to work within all aspects of the Veterinary practice. Ashleigh has an interest in emergencies and critical care as well as working with the equine team. She enjoys spending time with her dogs Chester and Alfie, as well as her horse Pogo.
Georgie Clark RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge surgery and Emergency OOH team
I qualified as a nurse in 2016 and started here at Ryder-Davies and Partners when I relocated in 2021. I enjoy anaesthesia and surgical nursing. At home I spend my time riding my pony, walking our crazy dogs or helping out on the pig farm!
Victoria Saberton RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge surgery and Emergency OOH team
Lily Phillips RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Lily joined the practice in July 2023 after qualifying from Nottingham trent university with a FdSc veterinary nursing degree.
She enjoys all aspects of nursing but particularly enjoys nurse clinics and caring for hospitalised patients.
In her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and two dogs – Elsie and Lana.
Alison Smith RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse of the Emergency OOH team
Alison qualified as an RVN with Ryder-Davies & Partners back in 2011 and moved to work with us as an out of hours night nurse in 2020 where she enjoys providing a high standard of care to all the inpatients and dealing with the various emergencies seen out of hours.
During her time working as a RVN, Alison has previously worked at a referral practice where she enjoyed the varied cases she saw.
Alison has also previously been a clinical coach, teaching student veterinary nurses.
Alison has 4 sheep, 3 dogs, 1 cat and a Shetland Pony.
She enjoys horse riding and stewarding at cross country competitions in any spare free time!
Sophie Donovan RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge surgery and Emergency OOH team
I qualifed in November 2020 and studied at the The College of Animal Welfare to recieve my Diploma. I work at Ryder-Davies and Partners Woodbridge surgery as a Twilight and Night nurse. I enjoy inpatient care the most as it is so rewarding when animals in such critical conditions recover and go home! I also have an interest in Canine Behaviour and try to help our more nervous Canine patients feel more comfortable in the veterinary practice. I have two Dachshunds called Bo and Rex, Rex is our newest member and is Bo’s son, I hope he doesn’t get her stubborn behaviour! I also have a Dachushund Cross called Slinky. And yes, Toy Story is the theme… Outside work I enjoy dog walks and going out with friends and family.
Grace Taylor
Student Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Grace joined us in 2020 as one of our Animal Nursing Assistants. She has a love for all animals big and small, and rides horses in her spare time.
She has recently given a forever home to a kitten called Otto, and has a Hungarian Vizsla called Cooper.
Grace is about to embark on her training to become a Registered Veterinary Nurse.
Vikki Flatman
Student Veterinary Nurse at the Woodbridge Surgery
Vikki joined the Woodbridge surgery in October 2020. She previously worked in admin roles before working as a veterinary receptionist at a small animal practice. Vikki has volunteered at the Suffolk Blue Cross and is currently studying to be a Registered Veterinary Nurse.
She has four house cats; George, Eddie, Alfie and Betty who she loves to spoil. Outside of work, she enjoys socialising with friends and family, yoga, eating good food and binge watching Netflix.
Laura Bailey RVN
Registered Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Laura has been with the practice for 3 years. She is so close to completing her training to become an RVN , with just a couple of final exams left to go. She has a keen interest in anaesthesia and loves caring for the patients when they come in for procedures. In her spare time (..which is a rarity at the moment with all the revision!..) Laura enjoys walking her crazy red Labrador, riding her horse and generally anything to do with the outdoors.
Laury Peck
Student Veterinary Nurse at the Ipswich Surgery
Laury started working for Ryder-Davies & Partners in 2021 as a nursing assistant after finishing a Level 3 technical diploma in animal management at otley college. She loves working with all animals but especially dogs.
She has a border terrier cross called Meg as well as chickens and is about to start her training to become a Registered Veterinary Nurse.
Steph Pryke
Animal Nursing Assistant at the Woodbridge Surgery
Steph studied Small Animal and Equine Care at Otley College before working at a hunting and eventing yard where she worked for around 10 years until the birth of her daughter. She continued to work with horses in Newmarket on a small stud farm but soon realised her love for small animals had returned.
Steph started working at Ryder-Davies & Partners as a cleaner in 2018 and successfully applied to become an Animal Care/Kennel Assistant the following year. She is currently waiting to start her nurse training to continue her career in small animal care.
Steph’s hobbies include looking after her pet rats, her Jack Russell Eddie & her two continental giants Vinnie and Vickie.
Aaliyah Andrews
Animal Nursing Assistant at the Ipswich Surgery
Aaliyah recently finished studying a ‘Level 3 technical diploma in animal management’ at Otley College and joined the Ryder-Davies & partners team as an animal nursing assistant September 2021.
Aaliyah was previously a volunteer for a dog day care centre, and worked at a dog groomers for 2 years.
She has always admired animals, especially dogs, and takes great interest in starting her veterinary career, to one day become a registered veterinary nurse.
Megan Read
Nursing Assistant/Receptionist at the Felixstowe Surgery
Megan started working at the Felixstowe surgery in 2017. She studied at UCS/University of Essex and has a foundation degree in Animal Science and Welfare which covers a range of topics including animal nursing and health. She has a great love for dogs and exotics.
Bethany Skuse
Nursing Assistant/Receptionist at the Felixstowe Surgery
Bethany joined the Felixstowe practice in October 2020. She started her career studying Animal Care at Otley College followed by working as a canine carer for 5 years. Bethany has a keen interest in all animals, especially dogs after having her own throughout her childhood.
Tahlia Mays
Nursing Assistant/Receptionist at the Felixstowe Surgery
Tahlia joined the Felixstowe team in June of 2022 and she hopes to start her veterinary nursing training soon.
Outside of work Tahlia enjoys lifting weights at the gym, going to gigs and concerts and getting new tattoos.