“I grew up locally in the village of Shipley (I went to Shipley Primary School) before going onto the Weald School in Billingshurst, all which feels a long time ago now!
I certainly would never have envisaged returning to set up an Osteopathic Practice on the High Street many years later.
I joined the Army and served for almost 5 years before deciding to call it a day after a road traffic accident left me with a fractured lower back and pelvis, which meant that it was impossible to fulfill that particular dream.
However, I had a fantastic and memorable time, but it soon became clear that life was taking a different path.
My injuries and the subsequent treatment and rehabilitation led me towards a career in healthcare. I decided after some thought that Osteopathy was for me and was something I wanted to pursue.
After returning to the local area, I attended Brighton College for a year where I undertook two A Levels in Physics and Human Biology, which was the minimum requirement to be given a place at the British School of Osteopathy in London. In 1992 I was accepted on the course, moved to London and began a four-year Honours Degree in Osteopathy. I qualified in 1996 and during the four years of my study, my two lovely daughters Georgie and Annie were born which made life more exciting.
After working in various practices, I set up Billingshurst Osteopaths on the High Street in 1999, above what is now known as Fowlers Estate Agents.
I did and still enjoy Structural/ Biomechanical Osteopathy, which still takes up a large proportion of my working day, and I had already worked in a sports injury practice prior to arriving in Billingshurst.
However, I decided to widen my practice further and I attended courses in Cranial Osteopathy which to this day is still a passion of mine.
I soon joined the teaching faculty at the British School of Osteopathy (subsequently renamed the Rollin E Becker Institute) and have been involved in post graduate teaching and lecturing in the subject until more recently.
I currently also organise two courses a year at Kings College, London in Anatomy and Pathology on behalf of the Teaching Institute for Qualified Osteopaths.
Throughout the years, whilst working in the Billingshurst practice, I have always had the dream and vision of opening a multi-disciplinary practice (as lots of my friends and more regular patients will testify).
Very often I feel a patient will need the care of a therapist with different and unique skills to mine within their field of expertise, either for a related or unrelated problem to the one they presented with at my practice.
As time has gone on, I’ve had more and more conversations with patients which entail questions around who I can recommend in a variety of fields; from massage therapy to counselling, podiatry to acupuncture, the list is endless! Such conversations have driven me forward to develop a Wellbeing Centre, which encompasses a range of these services.
The dream has always been to open a centre like Meadows Wellbeing, with the best therapists in their field practicing together as part of a wonderful team. Ensuring I was in the right place to pursue this personally, as well as waiting for the right property to become available, has been the main hurdle in taking this further until now.
In the Summer of 2018, the community of Billingshurst were notified that three of the main banks operating in the High Street were due to close. Understandably, people were not happy about this and I was very much in agreement. However, it was at this point that an opportunity presented itself as I saw the “For Sale” sign put up for the building of Natwest bank.
Looking out of the waiting room window each day, I soon began to wonder whether this was the right time to take the plunge and see if the building could fit the vision I’d had for so long, for a medical Wellbeing Centre.
I booked a viewing and upon walking in, immediately loved the space and could see the real potential.
My wife Salli also looked around the tired and run-down 100 year old building and after discussing the opportunity together, we made the decision to pursue the dream and she was fully supportive in this process from the get-go.
After a few ups and downs (which presented themselves over the following year), including bad news around issues of damp and a severely damaged roof in the property, we finally reached the completion of buying the old bank building in November 2018.
Before starting the renovation project, I happened to be treating a patient one day who is a fantastic carpenter and builder – Adam Speers. We spoke regularly about how we could create the Wellbeing Centre and when it was time to collect the keys to the property, the building plans were already drawn up by Chris Smalley at Minniedale projects, who also did a great job of project managing for us.
Adam and his incredibly supportive and amenable team of builder Dave, electrician Nod and plumber Adam started work immediately. Aside from this, there were many other tradesmen and other professions who contributed to the impressive renovation of the building, including the team from the Coast to Coast roofing company who spent a great deal of time at number 57 with us.
I would just like to take this moment to say a huge thank you to everybody, as we couldn’t have done this without you all. I feel very lucky to have had such a good team working on this project and you can find all their contact details below.
As the renovation work continued, I spent a great deal of time working to build our wonderful team, managed by Fiona Richards our new Practice Manager.
Together, the number of therapists working under one roof has grown to include services in Osteopathy, Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Reflexology, Counselling, Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy, Sports Injury/Massage Therapy and Foot Care.
As you will see on our treatment pages on this site, this really is a talented group of practitioners who are highly skilled and I can assure you they are fantastic and committed to giving our patients the best possible care.
The old Natwest building has been truly transformed into a professional, welcoming Wellbeing Centre. I would like it to be part of a friendly, rejuvenating and vibrant Billingshurst High Street for the foreseeable future and feel incredibly proud!
I look forward to working with the other businesses in the area together to serve the local community and I am currently working towards an opening date of 1 June 2020. The recent weeks have been difficult for all, and it’s safe to say that COVID-19 has presented a few extra hurdles, yet I am grateful for the extra time that we have been given to make sure everything is just right for the big opening.
Myself and the team promise to keep everybody regularly updated as the next few months develop, to ensure as much clarity as is possible around which therapists are working and in what capacity.
For anybody still reading, I want to take the time to thank you for your support with this new, exciting business that I have long dreamt of pursuing, and on behalf of myself and the team here at Meadows Wellbeing, we look forward to welcoming you all through our doors very soon.”
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