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Mad Catter Café
Lucy Cozens
Istudied at the RVC 14 years ago now! (That makes me feel old!). I had a few jobs as a vet nurse in various vet surgeries throughout Norfolk then
relocated to Eastbourne where
I worked for a farming co-operative.
I visited a cat café in Tonbridge a few months back and it got me thinking about what changes I would make and what I would do the same if I had one; then my boyfriend said “let’s give it a try” –so we are!
It has been my dream to own my own business, of course working with animals, and what more challenging an animal than cats?
Cat cafés are popping up all over and becoming very popular, so I knew I had to make mine different by incorporating my vintage flair and offering alcohol, late night openings on selected days as well as a cinema club in the basement.
Please check out:
The Mad Catter – Vintage Cat Café
the_mad_catter_cat_cafe w madcatter.pet
Are you using your skills from your
time at the RVC and applying them to something a bit different, like Lucy has? Let us know and perhaps you’ll feature in next year’s Eclipse or on social media. Email us at development@rvc.ac.uk
Lionel Edward Aston Rowson, OBE
May 1914 - July 1989
During a recent event at the RVC, Professor David Noakes reminded us about an RVC alumnus, whose work had a huge impact on
society and the profession.
Lionel Rowson, known as Tim, was
a veterinary surgeon who made important contributions to research in reproductive physiology in farm animals and its application to animal breeding. In particular, he was a pioneer of artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer, which have become two of the most important technologies for livestock improvement in modern times.
In 1942, Cambridge was the first AI centre for cattle breeding in Britain and Tim was appointed director, playing a leading role in the application and rapid growth of this technology. Ten years later he contributed to the development of successful methods for the freezing and long-term storage of bull semen at very low temperatures. This had far-reaching consequences for the future of AI and cattle breeding worldwide.
For 30 years Tim also worked at the Animal Research Station in Cambridge on methods for embryo transfer in sheep
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and cattle and their use in research
and breeding. This culminated in the 1970s with the development of effective methods for collection and transfer of cattle embryos by non-surgical means. The birth of the first calf after transfer of a deep frozen embryo in 1973 was another landmark, and these advances led quite quickly to the commercial application of embryo transfer in cattle breeding.
Tim is generally regarded as the founder
of embryo transfer in farm animals, but important contributions were made by many collaborators. He always considered that he was privileged during his early years to have worked with Dr John (later Sir John) Hammond, F.R.S, who maintained that the function of applied science was
to synthesize the detailed knowledge gained from fundamental research into a constructive whole so that it could be used for a specific purpose.
David Noakes reflects:
“I have always considered that Tim was a person who never received the recognition by the veterinary profession that he deserved, which was partly because he was an unbelievably modest, almost shy man. He was elected an FRCVS in the 1970s when his only academic qualification
was MRCVS, which he obtained whilst a student of the RVC in the 1940s.
It caused some embarrassment at the RCVS because he was quickly awarded FRCVS for MCL and appointed a member of RVC Council; I used to sit with him when I first became a member of RVC Council in the 1980s.
As mentioned above, for many years Tim was Director of the then ARC, and now AFRC unit of Animal Reproduction in Cambridge, a world renowned centre
for Animal Reproduction Research. I know of at least two of his PhD students who subsequently were elected F.R.S; Roger Short and Chris Polge. Tim was persuaded after the award of the F.R.S to submit his publications to the University of Cambridge for the ScD degree. I remember congratulating him and his comment was typical of such a modest man, "it was easy; I just bundled my papers together, wrote a brief summary and sent them to the University".
With thanks to the Royal Society for use of part of their abstract about Tim.
For more details on Tim's life, visit: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/ pdf/10.1098/rsbm.1999.0097