A TV vet who worked with the real-life James Herriot has helped launch a touching new scheme to help owners remember their beloved pets.
Peter Wright, who stars on the Channel 5 shows The Yorkshire Vet and Springtime on the Farm, joined forces with Ifor Williams Trailers to roll out the nationwide memorial project.
The company supplied a trailer to transport a memorial bench to the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk, where the first tribute area has now opened.
The bench was transported to the museum by farming brothers Rob and Dave Nicholson, who regularly feature on Springtime on the Farm and whose Cannon Hall Farm visitor attraction near Barnsley is the setting for another popular show.
Farming brothers, from left, Dave and Rob Nicholson, with TV vet Peter Wright and the memorial bench they delivered to the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk using an Ifor Williams trailer
(Image: SUPPLIED)
They were met at the museum by Peter Wright, who worked with vet and author Alf Wight before his death in 1995. Alf was known by his pen name James Herriot.
James Herriot’s books about being a vet in the Yorkshire Dales have become worldwide hits and led to several TV and film adaptations, including the hugely successful All Creatures Great and Small series.
The opening of the pet memorial at the museum was featured on an episode of The Yorkshire Vet.
Peter Wright said the memorial at the museum would be the first of a series of pet benches to be installed around the country.
Outside the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk are, from left, farming brothers Dave and Rob Nicholson and TV vet Peter Wright, with the memorial bench and the Ifor Williams trailer used to deliver it
(Image: SUPPLIED)
He said: “What we are going to do in about ten different locations is put a bench where people can go and sit and remember their pets, in a similar way to what we have done at the World of James Herriot.
“The bench is situated in a lovely walled garden in a quiet area of the World of James Herriot, which used to be our veterinary practice until 1996.
“The walled garden was where we used to turn the dogs out when they were recuperating from procedures.
Farming brothers, from left, Dave and Rob Nicholson, with TV vet Peter Wright, outside the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk with the memorial bench and the Ifor Williams trailer used to deliver it
(Image: SUPPLIED)
“Going back in time, it was basically part of a Georgian house, and it’s where Alf Wight - James Herriot - started and lived during the initial parts of his working career.
“He would walk up and down there with his dogs regularly, so it’s quite fitting to have it where it is.
“And I used to go as a school lad down to the practice when Alf Wight was there; he had only just started writing really, he had written two or three of his books by then, so I was in there pretty much from the outset.”
From left, farming brothers Dave and Rob Nicholson with TV vet Peter Wright and the memorial bench they delivered using an Ifor Williams trailer to the World of James Herriot museum in Thirsk
(Image: SUPPLIED)
Peter said as part of the scheme, pet owners can acquire stainless steel plaques to be put into the museum’s memorial area.
He added: “The bench and the memorial wall is overlooked by a life-sized statue of James Herriot - it’s rather nice.
“A lot of people are reluctant to show grief because some people don’t understand and will say ‘it’s just a dog you’ve lost’.
Read more
TV star shares memories of real-life people behind show All Creatures Great and Small
The Yorkshire Vet star reveals how beloved TV show nearly never made it to air
Heat rising at the second day of the Great Yorkshire Show
“But there are a vast number, especially nowadays, where pets are very much part of the family.”
The bench brought to the museum by Rob and Dave Nicholson has a particularly poignant plaque installed, a tribute to their three-year-old Shire horse Herkules who died last June.
Rob said: “Peter comes very regularly to our farm and he had only been filming with Herkules for Springtime on the Farm a month or two before his passing.
“They were kind enough to have a bench made in memory of Herkules, who tragically passed away due to colic last summer.
“It was a really lovely thing to do.
“The only consolation is that we have got three foals to Herkules expected this year so we are hoping that there can be at least something of a silver lining with the successful birth of those.”