TORCH FARM DIRECTORS
Mike Blake
BVM&S BSc,PhD MRCVS
Director
Dr Mike Blake BVM&S BSc,PhD MRCVS
Mike, a native of South Molton travelled the UK, indulged in a spot of aquaculture and then decided to return to Bideford where he has worked since 2002 becoming a Director of Torch Farm Vets in 2012. Most often he will be found on dairy units on the west of the practice but he is keen on all aspects of farm animal work and to prove it he spends weekends as a shepherd returning to South Molton to indulge his sheep side. In between times he can be found around the local lanes enjoying the fresh air, cycling slowly or running even more slowly or even just walking.
Nich Roper
BVetMed DBR MRCVS
Director
Dr Nich Roper BVetMed DBR MRCVS RCVS Advanced Practitioner Bovine Reproduction
Nich comes from a farming background in Norfolk. After qualifying in 1992 he worked in a large mixed practice in Kent where he developed his interest in herd and flock health and production.
In 1995 he moved to North Devon where he continued to develop his interests in mastitis, lameness, nutrition and in particular cattle reproduction. In 2004 he obtained the Diploma in Bovine Reproduction, and in 2015 he was awarded the Advanced Practioner status in Bovine Reproduction. He is optimistic that farming has a future.
Nich is married with two daughters and is a keen squash player.
Rebecca Cavill
BVetMed CertAVP (Cattle) PgCert MRCVS
Director
Rebecca Cavill BVetMed CertAVP (ProdAnim) MRCVS
Rebecca hails from a beef suckler farming family in Somerset. She graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2010 and started in mixed practice before crossing the border into Devon and joining the team in 2014. Having completed her Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (cattle) in 2016, she was elected on to the British Cattle Veterinary Association board in 2017 and is currently their lead on TB. Reb has a particular interest in fertility, youngstock and mastitis and is a Dairy Co Mastitis Control Plan deliverer. In September 2020, Reb became an Associate Director of the practice.
Outside of work Reb has been a keen member of Young Farmers and although now too old to participate, continues to hold an advisory role and started the ‘Too Old for Young Farmers’ skittles team that she remains a member of.
VETERINARY SURGEONS
Neil Blake
BVsc (Hons) MRCVS
Dr Neil Blake BVsc (Hons) MRCVS
Neil comes from a veterinary background. After qualifying he worked in farm animal practice both in this country and New Zealand before returning to North Devon to join the practice in 2002.
His particular interest lies in cattle health and production including mastitis, lameness and reproduction.
Katherine Balsdon
BVSc BSc MRCVS
Katherine Balsdon BVSc BSc MRCVS
Graduating from Liverpool, Katherine has been with us since 2012 and is an experienced popular member of our team. Katherine concentrates on TB work and is in high demand.
Katherine is very community spirited and heavily involved in Bradworthy events and activities. She also spends time visiting local attractions with her lovely daughter Esme.
Colin Clarke
BVetMed CertAVP PGCertVPS MRCVS
Colin Clarke BVetMed CertAVP PGCertVPS MRCVS
Colin joined the team at South Molton in 2011. Colin is a dairy farmer’s son from East Devon and is interested in all aspects of cattle work. He is a member of the British Cattle Veterinary Association.
Emily Dawson
BVetMed PGDipVCP MRCVS
Emily Dawson BVetMed PGDipVCP MRCVS
Emily graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2018. She completed a year long internship program with Torch before continuing with us as a fully fledged clinician. Her main interests are in sheep health and reproduction and cattle youngstock management.
In her spare time she can be found horse riding or exploring the Devon countryside with her spaniel Buddy.
Sophia Elworthy
BVSc PGCertVetEd MRCVS
Sophia Elworthy BVSc MRCVS
Sophia grew up on a beef and sheep farm on the edge of Exmoor and is now settled on a dairy and sheep farm near Swimbridge. Her main area of focus includes dairy herd health work with a particular interest in preventative health work and benchmarking key performance indicators.
Outside of work she enjoys running round the lanes of Swimbridge as well as helping out on the family farm with lambing, milking and calf rearing.
Kate Forgan
BVSc MRCVS
Kate Forgan BVSc MRCVS
Kate graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2011. She is originally from the Purbecks in Dorset, but now calls Bude home. She started her career doing predominantly dairy work and got the best of both worlds with daily border crossings between North Devon and Cornwall along the Atlantic Highway. Kate enjoys all aspects of cattle and sheep practice and isn’t one to shy away from a challenge.
Aside from work, she enjoys walks with her two dogs and competes with both at agility. Occasionally, when the sea is flat, Kate might be spotted exploring the coastline in her sea kayak and during the winter months she loves a short escape to the Alps for skiing.
Steph Prior
BVetMed CertAVP MRCVS
Steph Prior BVetMed CertAVP MRCVS
Steph graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2015. She has worked as a farm vet in Cornwall for 5 years, completing her certificate in advanced veterinary practice during this time.
Mike Glover
VetMB BA CertSHP FRCVS
Mike Glover VetMB BA CertSHP MRCVS
Mike qualified from Cambridge University in 1983. Mike is a long-standing member of the Sheep Veterinary Society and the British Cattle Veterinary Association and holds a RCVS Certificate in Sheep Health Production.
He established South West Sheep Breeding Services in 1989 as part of Horsepond Veterinary Centre and has subsequently helped build up a team with a special interest in sheep medicine and reproduction.
He has served as a committee member of the Sheep Veterinary Society as an examiner for the RCVS Certificate in Sheep Health and Production.
Emily Linton
BVSC Cert AVP (Cattle) MRCVS
Emily Linton BVSc Cert AVP (Cattle) MRCVS
Jess Partlett
BVetMed PGDipVCP MRCVS
Jess Partlett BVetMed PGDipVCP MRCVS
Jess graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2018 and completed her internship year and Post Graduate Diploma with Torch.
She moved from the East Coast of Australia to Kent in 2005 where she got involved with Young Farmers. She enjoys all aspects of the Beef and Dairy industry with particular interest in reproduction and cattle health.
In her spare time she enjoys competing in CrossFit and obstacle course competitions, and can often be found at the beach surfing.
Grahame Preston
BVSc BSc MRCVS
Grahame Preston BVSc BSc MRCVS
Grahame qualified from Bristol University in 1993 having already been awarded a BSc in Agricultural Science (Animal Science) at Leeds University. He has worked in the South West of England in predominately mixed practice ever since he joined Horsepond Veterinary Centre in 1998.
Grahame has attended courses on diagnostic ultrasound and homoeopathy and is a member of the British Veterinary Camelid Society.
Arturas Puodziunas
MRCVS
Arturas Puodziunas MRCVS
Arturas joined Torch Farm Vets in 2007. Prior to this he ran his own practice back home in Lithuania for 4 years.
He has an interest in all aspects of farm animals practice.
Adam Reid
BVMS MRCVS
Adam Reid MRCVS
Adam qualified from the University of Glasgow in 2017. He comes from a sheep and beef farm in Perthshire, Scotland and enjoys all aspects of farm work. Before joining Torch he worked in a large animal practice in Northern Ireland.
In his spare time he can be found playing sport and helping at the farm back home.
Miriam Rigby
BVM&S CertAVP PGCertVPS MRCVS
Miriam Rigby BVM&S CertAVP PGCertVPS MRCVS
Miriam graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2017 and joined us after completing a farm animal internship in Cornwall. Her main interests are in fertility and infectious diseases.
In her spare time she can be found playing tennis, coastal walking or learning to glide.
Jenny Schmidt
BVSc MRCVS
Jenny Schmidt BVSc MRCVS
Jenny grew up in a dusty part of Australia, riding tame lambs and snoozing in the back yard with Sandy, the house cow. At the time, she wanted nothing more than to be a horse vet. And to have a pony.
Having qualified in 1995 from The University of Sydney, Jenny almost immediately took off to Britain. She decided to settle in the UK when she realised that she really liked the colour green. Jenny now has a smallholding of her own, with a small flock of Shetland ewes. She has also kept chickens, ducks, geese and goats here. While she loves the sheep, she says the goats were better kissers.
Jenny is Honorary Veterinary Surgeon for the Devon Goat Society, is a member of the Sheep Veterinary Society, the Goat Veterinary Society and the British Camelid Veterinary Society. She is a sheep lameness advisor and a Bovine TB advisor. Jenny enjoys running training workshops and farmer meetings – events which employ her Lantra training qualifications and her natural tendency to talk and talk.
Hannah Schubert
BA VetMB MRCVS
Hannah Schubert BA VetMB MRCVS
Hannah qualified from Cambridge in 2008 and started with Torch in 2010. She currently divides her time between working for Torch and Bristol University, where she is working on an antibiotic resistance project. She is interested in all aspects of dairy cattle health and production, in particular the use of evidence based medicine and application of research in practical settings.
In her spare time, she loves exploring the Devonshire countryside, in particular walking, running and cycling.
Kiera Schubert
BA VetMB CertAVP (Cattle) MRCVS
Kiera Schubert VetMB BA CertAVP MRCVS
Kiera joined the practice in 2008 and still loves it so whilst she may occasionally cross the river has no plans to go any further! She enjoys working with clients on preventative medicine and management and holds a certificate in cattle health and production.
Kiera has particular interests in calf health and mastitis prevention and is part of the team leading the Torch Youngstock Club.
Daniel Scovenna
MRCVS
Daniel Scovenna MRCVS
Daniel qualified from the University of Milan in 2008. He has gained valuable experience during his time working in the UK (including Cambridge University) and in Belgium.
He joined the Torch Farm team in 2012.
Daniel has a keen interest in all aspects of farm animal practice.
Alex Sofian
MRCVS
Alex Sofian MRCVS
Alex graduated in Bucharest in 2011 and focused his work on dairy farms for 7 years. He joined Torch at the end of 2018. In his spare time, he has two energetic children for whom he would do anything, even moving to a different country.
Rachel Turner
MRCVS
Rachel Turner MRCVS
Rachel qualified from Bristol University in 2015 and has been working in the North Devon and North Cornwall areas predominantly undertaking dairy work.
She hasn’t moved far, growing up on her family’s dairy farm in Kings Nympton but now living in Bradworthy. Rachel enjoys working alongside farmers to improve herd and youngstock health to ensure farm sustainability.
In her spare time she will be found walking her two working cocker spaniels, horse riding or checking up on the family farm.
Hana Ward
BVetMed PGDipVCP MRCVS
Hana Ward BVetMed MRCVS
Guto Wynne BVMS MRCVS
Guto Wynne BVMS MRCVS
Guto graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2013 and started in mixed practice before making the move from Wales and joining the team in 2016. He is interested in all areas of farm work, particularly sheep health planning and reproduction. Guto is the lead Vet of the South West Sheep Breeding Services team based at our South Molton branch. In his spare time, if he hadn’t spent enough time working with sheep during the day, Guto can be seen tending to his small flock of Valais Blacknose sheep.
Andrew Thomas BVSc MRCVS
Andrew Thomas BVSc MRCVS
Sasha Wicks BVMedsci BVM BVS MRCVS.
Sasha Wicks BVMedsci BVM BVS MRCVS.
Sasha graduated from the University of Nottingham at the end of July. Sasha is originally from South Devon so was excited to be able to move back into the area after University. She enjoy all aspects of farm work but especially beef and sheep health and reproduction.
In her spare time, she enjoy’s horse riding as well as exploring North Devon by foot!
CLINICAL TRAINING SCHOLARS
Hannah Fitzsimmonds
BVSc MRCVS
Resident
Hannah Fitzsimmonds BVSc MRCVS
Hannah graduated from the University of Bristol in 2020 and has moved down to Torch after two years working as a dairy vet in Cheshire. Originally from the Yorkshire Dales, Hannah is looking forward to exploring Devon and all it has to offer alongside her border collie Fly.Hannah joins us to complete her Residency in conjunction with Royal Veterinary College.
Luke Gunter BVetMed BSc (Hons) MRCVS Intern
Luke Gunter MRCVS
Luke graduated from the Royal Veterinary College with degrees in Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences. He moved from West Kent to undertake the internship to develop his production animal medicine interests. Luke presented at the British Mastitis Conference on the subject of dry period cure rates. Outside of work, Luke enjoys paddle boarding, running and visiting pubs
VETERINARY TECHNICIANS
Jemma Grant
Jenny Hookway
Hazel Floyd
Emily Rowe
Rachel Bond
APPROVED TUBERCULIN TESTERS
Matt Berry
Ashley Hooper
Alex Sofian
Stuart Blencowe
Katherine Balsdon
Maddie Norman
Amy Bradley
Ally Cook (training)
VETERINARY CLIENT SUPPORT TEAM
Bideford:
Julie Bence
Nicole Davey
Emma King
Alice Harding
Jess Brayley
Emma Hart
Sarah Coldrick
Holsworthy:
Julie Bence
Nicole Davey
Alice Harding
Jess Brayley
Sarah Coldrick
Emma Hart
South Molton:
Lorraine Alexander RAMA
Chloe Fyers
Annabelle Partridge
Ilfracombe:
Elisha Anton
Katie Clark
Sarah Conacher-Crow
Casey Norris
Sarah Thomas
ADMINISTRATION TEAM
Claire Berry BSc(Hons) RVN, REVN
Administration Team
Stephen Hamill
Bookkeeper / Accountant
Julie Rottenbury RSQP
Group Pharmacy Supervisor
Helen Thomas
Pharmacy Stock Control
Candy Tucker
Administration Team
Charlotte Pardon
Marketing Coordinator
Gemma Rose
Assoc CIPD
HR Coordinator
Fiona Tyson Assoc CIPD
HR Administrator
