Dr Reginald Godwin

BVSc MRCVS

Candidate 5 of 20

Proposers: Trevor Grinter, Dr Laura Mather

Contact details

Address Hopworthy Moor Cottage, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6XX

T 01288 381 379

M 07591 605 836

E [email protected]

W https://facebook.com/reg.godwin.rcvs.council.candidate/

Candidate biography 

I qualified from Liverpool university in 1973. My first permanent job was with the RSPCA Putney Animal Hospital from 1974-78, leaving with a wealth of clinical experience, a VN wife and a rescue Ibizan hound. I set up a single-handed SA practice in Hastings in 1978.

However, I missed working as part of a team and, in 1980, I left Hastings to join the PDSA Plymouth Animal Hospital as their first qualified vet. After eight years, I was promoted to Senior Veterinary Surgeon, working with a staff of 22 people. This role required simultaneous commitment as both a clinician and a manager. After ten years as the senior vet, I left the PDSA to become a locum vet in Plymouth, finally retiring in 2013, forty years after graduation.

I have a wide range of interests including a vintage guitar collection, photography, growing bonsai trees and family history research. My family help me maintain our twenty acres of land in Devon where we encourage rewilding and wild flowers. I rear scarce species of butterfly for local release and have been involved in local conservation projects, particularly barn owls.

Candidate statement 

Why do you want to be a member of RCVS Council?

I have a special interest in mental health problems and challenges, which many vets and nurses may face at some stage in their working lives. Spotting those who are struggling, often internally, is vital in order to be able to direct them towards the support they need. I am currently awaiting a place on the RCVS Mind Matters Initiative training course.

There are a number of ‘hot topics’ at the moment, with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigating veterinary competition and profit levels. The proposal for a fully appointed governing council of the RCVS will produce a huge change, as will the future changes to the Veterinary Surgeons Act, 1966. My feeling is that the profession needs to closely examine its relationship with the public so that the great respect it was always shown in the past, continues today.

Charity animal welfare work has been a constant theme throughout my career and I feel that I share the objectives of the RCVS in wishing to serve both the public and the profession equally.

I consider this to be an ideal time for me to contribute to the work of the RCVS through election to the Council.

What do you think you can bring to RCVS Council?

“Age brings us wisdom but denies us enough time to be able to use it”. That quotation is one I would very much like to challenge by using the time I now have in retirement to serve on the RCVS Council. An extremely full working and home life previously denied me the chance to give something back to the profession and the public beyond my paid employment.

Management and trustee training with the PDSA gave me many useful, transferable skills such as: IT and communication, compiling and analysing reports, conflict resolution, delegation, time management, budget control and interviewing prospective new staff.

Whilst working as a clinician and manager at PDSA Plymouth, I was able to strengthen relations between the Society and private practices by means of shared clinical meetings, which counted towards hours of CPD at a relatively low cost.

What relevant experience do you have?

My forty years in clinical practice was always most enjoyable when working as part of a loyal and cohesive team. The isolation of single-handed practice never suited me. I found teams to be synergistic and self-supporting when stress levels were high.

Outside the clinical environment, I have been a school governor of my children’s infant and junior schools. I was also the first employee-trustee of the PDSA Pension Scheme, a role which involved considerable responsibility and training, helping to manage a multi-million pound fund, upon which, people’s retirement security and comfort depended.

During my career, I had to give occasional presentation and interviews to the press, radio and television, which I always enjoyed. More recently, I have been a major contributor to three Facebook groups, one of which I founded (RSPCA). They involve the history of RSPCA Putney Animal Hospital over a 50-year period, a nostalgia and history group for my home town of Stafford, and a tribute site for a professional musician, who was also a close friend (Pete Haycock).

Is there anything else you would like to add in support of your candidacy?

Being the father of triplet sons has given me considerable experience in conflict management, mediation, reconciliation and the value of tolerance of others’ opinions. I firmly believe in the fair and equal treatment of everyone. I found this especially useful when I was part of a large team who behaved very much like an extended family, with all their ups and downs, sorrows and joys. Most of all, it was great fun, and lifetime friendships were forged with people.

What has kept me going through all these years has been a sense of humour and recognising that we are all just cogs in a larger machine, which is society. I’m passionate about honesty, integrity, wildlife and the prevention of pain and cruelty. From that moment as a nine-year old boy, when I removed the wobbling deciduous canine tooth of my first puppy, I felt that this was my destiny. In my heart, I will always be a vet until my last breath.

I hope you feel that I am the right person to represent both the profession and the public in the forthcoming Council election and, if you are voting for me, I thank you most sincerely.