‘If the practice moves to Leeds where will the pets of Teesside be treated?’ I asked.

The two young vets glanced guiltily at each other, and then their lawyer. The three of them were sitting the green sofa at my (now dead) grandmother’s Hexham bungalow. The rest of us – my grandmother, my parents, my sisters, and TPR – were all at the other side of the room. A black-headed, golden-bodied labrador stood in the no man’s land between the two sides.

The men who now ran my father’s practice were unconcerned that there would be no veterinary services provision in Teesside. They passed over the paperwork and I completed the details in the missing address box: LS1.

The only way that we would have any further influence over the practice would be if one of us joined the board. I decided to put myself forward for this role, regardless of the opinion of my father.