On the 13th of March the Forum held its annual open meeting when members may invite guests to enjoy the guest speaker.

This year the featured speaker was Jim Wight, the son of James Heriot who wrote the books detailing his life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales. Heriot’s real name was Alfred Wight and his vet’s practice was situated in Thirsk and Jim explained that his father changed his name and location to try and preserve his anonymity.

However, he sold over 100 million copies of his books and Thirsk’s James Heriot Museum has become a major tourist destination, particularly for American visitors.

Jim followed his father to become a vet in Thirsk and his talk featured a number of amusing stories involving his dealings with the local farming community.

One of the main characters in the James Heriot books was his business partner Siegfried Farnon, whose name was actually Donald Sinclair, and Jim ended his talk with a few tales about this unique person.

Forum Chairman Mike Earle thanked Jim Wight for a highly entertaining morning and Forum members and their guests joined in enthusiastic applause.

Jim Wight donates all his speaker’s fees to charity.