Southern View: July 17, 2018

4 Tuesday July 17 2018
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SOUTHERN VIEW
Southshore couple
McMaster & Heap
Veterinary practice
Another heAP Vet in the
fAmily….
Our son Connor has
just been accepted
into the Veterinary
Programme
at Massey in
Palmerston North.
Steve and I are
super proud as we
know how hard he’s
worked these past
5 months to make
the cut. A big part of the selection process
now is a weekend of interviews involving real
life situations and personality testing which
accounts for a large percentage of your final
grade. This is new but I think essential in
choosing the kids with the right set of skills
and personality traits to move into a very
select, challenging and not easy profession.
In our experience the best vets we have
encountered were not the cleverest kids
by any means. The unforgettable students
were relatable and practical, enjoyed solving
problems quickly and talking to people,
cared about animals in general, loved the
team environment and were hard workers.
You have to have fantastic work ethic in this
profession and not be a
complainer –
the hours are
long, the days
throw at you
many real life
emergency’s
constantly but
the rewards
personally are
huge. Its not
a job – it’s a
way of life and
it’s a privilege
to care for
pets and their
owners.
All our 3 three sons have loved animals
from day dot. All their lives they have
grown up with cats and dogs and horses
(through my parents). All three boys have
always been kind, caring and respectful
of all our pets and taken responsibility
for them. Our pets have come away on
holiday with us and we are not complete
as a family without them. Right from small
children they spent a fair bit of time at the
vet clinic, whether it be afterhours callouts,
watching their dad operate on eyes, coming
in to medicate and feed sick patients in the
weekends, helping me clean and feed our
cattery cats on public holidays or being an
extra pair of hands at a caesarian. They have
never resented the amount of time we spend
at the clinic and they have always wanted to
hear about interesting cases and be involved.
Up until this year Connor was at UC Berkeley
in San Francisco on a tennis scholarship,
playing for the Cal Tennis team and studying
Open 7 days
Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place
phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz
www.mcmasterheap.co.nz
an undergraduate
degree in
sciences. He spent
18 months of a 4
year scholarship
there and loved it
but had decided
he’d had enough
of tennis and
wanted to give
Veterinary science
a crack. Connor had given his life to tennis,
first playing at age of 3 and I think he’d simply
had enough. Time for a change and to move
forward with his life. He could have finished
his Undergraduate degree at Berkeley but
then he still needed to do the first semester of
prevet at Massey to gain entry into the course.
So he decided at Christmas to enroll in prevet
and put his Berkeley qualification on hold. He
loved studying at Berkeley – ranked the 6th
Best College in the world. He can finish his
undergraduate studies back there whenever
he wants.
A lot has changed since Steve and I were at
Vet school back in 86 and 87. Many of my
classmates are now lecturers and the Vet
faculty has had a massive much needed
revamp. The campus is much the same
and from what Connor has reported
the campus food is still average – main
problem being “not enough food” plus
no one cooks like his dad.
Believe it or not, Connor has the same
room in the same hostel his dad 31
years ago.
The campus
is pretty and
Connor is
enjoying
exploring all
the old places
in town his
dad and I
did on a
Saturday
night. It
hasn’t
changed
much in nearly 30 years.
Its going to be great having Connor in the
same country for the next 4 or so years. I’m
sure he’ll get lots of visitors. Another “ Heap”
one day at McMaster & Heap, and I know for
sure he’ll not disappoint. Here’s to a fantastic
succession plan. It gets to stay in the family
for the next 60 years or so. We bought the
practice in 1999 – I wonder what it will look
like in 2099. Probably a lot different but I hope
its still called McMaster & Heap, even though
I’ll be long gone!
Dr Michele McMaster
McMaster & Heap
HURDLES: Southshore couple Dylan Wood and Charlotte Donne have been
through a drawn out process with the city council to get a small extension to
their home.
PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
CHARLOTTE DONNE and Dylan
Wood wanted nothing more than to
add a small extension to their home
in time for their first child’s arrival in
September.
The Southshore couple had planned to
expand their small beach cottage by 60 sq
m to allow for more space in their kitchen
and lounge area.
But what should have been a simple
GASSON
MOTORS
LIMITED
process to get a building consent from
the city council for their home on
Rocking Horse Rd turned into a long
“battle”. Coastal residents living in the
city council’s High Flood Management
Plan area are facing difficulties obtaining
resource consent to extend their homes or
build on empty sections.
Miss Donne and Mr Wood lodged their
consent application in November last
year but only received the go-ahead last
month.
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