OUR STORY
The Gate House, Abbotswood
1953
2006 - 2019
2017 - 2021
2021
The Beginnings
Husband and wife, Donald and Elizabeth Bennett, founded the Guildford Chiropractic Centre at The Gate House, Abbotswood, in Guildford in 1953. Elizabeth had come from a long line of chiropractors; both her father and grandfather having practised the profession. Donald and Elizabeth's son, Russell, joined them in 1979 and took over the running of the practice during the ensuing years.
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Donald and Elizabeth were also instrumental establishing Europe’s premier Chiropractic University, now called AECC University College. Both also held posts in the British Chiropractic Association, the UK’s biggest Chiropractic Association, with Donald being president for a term
New Inn Surgery
In 1991 Alain Michelotti joined the practice with 21 years of chiropractic and physiotherapy experience. Before qualifying as a chiropractor at AECC he spent several years working as a physiotherapist in his native France. Alain enabled Guildford Chiropractic Centre to expand the scope of our services by offering both treatment types to patients of the clinic.
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He moved the practice to its home above the New Inn GP Surgery in Burpham, just a short distance from our original location. As a beautiful grade II listed building, thought to be the oldest Building in Burpham, was a wonderful home for us over the years.
In 2011, chiropractor Philip Hehir joined the GCC family and after 6 years of working together, Alain decided to pass the reins over to him. In 2017 Philip and Annie Hehir became the new guardians of the Clinic acting as Practice Principal and Practice Manager whilst continuing to treat their patients.
The big move
As much as we enjoyed our time at the New Inn, it has not been without its issues. One of which was our ability to offer services to those less mobile due to our practice being up a small flight of stairs, without any kind of lift or wheelchair access. This is something we long wanted to remedy, to make chiropractic care accessible to anyone and everyone. So we went on the hunt for a new home!
We are now settled into our new home, Burchatts Farm Barn on Stoke Park. The barn is just 2 minutes away from our previous premises, and even closer to our original site at Abbottswood where it all began in 1953, and we will continue our tradition of occupying and caring for Guildford’s beautiful historic buildings.