At the beginning of November, a Zoom meeting was convened to draw together a number of those who have been part of VCF from its early years. Participants logged in to the call from all parts of UK and one had risen early specially to join in from Australia.

The aim was to search deep into the recesses of the collective brain to bring out some of the earlier history of VCF. A wide-ranging discussion ensued detailing the initial drivers, both in terms of aims and the people involved, behind the fellowship. In this context Sydney Jennings, a Professor of Surgery at Glasgow University, had invited Christians he knew for fellowship and prayer in his room at BVA Conference. He was joined by several vets including Ian Hall who was in practice in Huntingdon and held the Presidency of the RCVS Practitioners Association. From those early days in the 1950s, through the passion of a growing number of those involved, the Veterinary Christian Fellowship evolved.

During the annual VCF Committee Weekend which took place recently via Zoom, it was decided that it would be good to build on the reminiscences that were brought out during the meeting. The hope would be to bring together some of the memories over the next year and publish them in VCF News. Then, possibly at the end of the year, these memoirs could be put together in one booklet.

In these times of uncertainty, in which the Oxford English Dictionary could not chose just one word of the year but had to resort to twenty, it is good to look back to see how good God has been in the life of VCF and those He has chosen to be part of that journey. But that is not in order that we can moan about current restrictions on our lives and yearn for the ‘good old days’ of years gone by. It is to spur us on to continue to be a faithful witness within our profession, proclaim the good news and share Christ’s love through veterinary medicine.
John Brown