THE NEWMAN TURNER CLINIC
Celebrating 50 years
1958-2008

This year marks the 50th anniversary of our practice in Letchworth Garden City which we have recently re-named in honour of its founder, my father F. Newman Turner. In that time thousands of patients, from the south east and many other parts of the country, have passed through our doors in search of help for a wide range of concerns from acute and chronic back pain to complex health issues, such as migraine, fatigue, and digestive complaints. I am pleased to say that the vast majority have gained relief through our combinations of osteopathy, acupuncture, and naturopathy, including nutritional medicine, herbs, and homoeopathy.

We would particularly like to salute the many patients who have remained loyal to our practice, turning to us for natural alternatives to the drugs or surgery that might otherwise have been their only course of action. Today complementary and alternative medicine is widely known and respected but this respect has been hard won and there are still many obstacles to overcome before we can achieve a truly integrated healthcare system.

How it all began
Our own practice grew out of the practical experience of creating health from the soil up. It all began at Goosegreen Farm in Somerset. It was there, during and after the second world war, that F. Newman Turner, who had diplomas in agriculture and dairying from Leeds University, carried out his experiments in organic farming.

F. Newman Turner founder of our practice

He had a herd of pedigree Jersey cattle (many of which achieved record butterfat yields in the days before animal fat became a health taboo!) reared on pastures of deep rooting herbal leys which provided high quality nourishment. If any animals did become sick there were fasted and dosed with herbal infusions.

Jersey cattle at Goosegreen Farm

F. Newman Turner wrote about his experiences in a quarterly magazine, The Farmer, which he published and edited from the farm and also in three books published in the early fifties by Faber & Faber, Fertility Farming, Fertility Pastures, and Herdsmanship. These are regarded as seminal works in organic farming literature.

After writing about how he had restored his own herd to health through natural rearing, stockbreeders started sending their cattle which had been written-off by vets for him to treat. When they recovered sufficiently to lead productive lives in their herds again, the owners started asking my father if he could suggest something for problems they had. He decided to qualify as a medical herbalist and became a consultant to the Society of Herbalists at their flagship shop in Bruton Street, London. He was later to be made a Fellow of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists in recognition of his contribution to the profession, particularly the publication of their house magazine Health from Herbs which he turned into a monthly periodical Fitness and Health from Herbs.

Wholefood (a term coined by F Newman Turner
in the 1940s) is the basis of good health

In 1953 we moved from Goosegreen to the Ferne Estate, near Shaftesbury in Dorset. Ferne was the home of the late Duchess of Hamilton and she had established an animal sanctuary there. When his plans for a natural animal hospital at Ferne fell through, however, my father decided to give up farming to concentrate on human health and sold his pedigree Jersey herd.

In 1958 we moved to Letchworth Garden City so that my two younger brothers, Giles and Adam, could go to St Christopher School, a progressive vegetarian school in the town, and the practice was established, providing herbal medicine, naturopathy and osteopathy. F Newman Turner was also among the first UK practitioners to study and practise acupuncture.

The next generation
Meanwhile I commenced my studies at the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy in north London while working in the treatment rooms at Champneys, near Tring, a residential nature cure clinic founded by the naturopath Stanley Lief. There I gained valuable experience doing massage and administering heat treatments, salt rubs, enemas, and colonic irrigations. After graduating in 1963 I spent several months travelling overland to India and Nepal and returned in early 1964 to join my father in the practice. In June that year he died suddenly of a heart attack while visiting herbal suppliers in Germany with my mother and youngest brother Adam. I took over the practices in London and Letchworth and we moved from Pasture Road to Lytton Avenue, then, in 1971, to our present clinic in Norton Way South.

The clinic on Norton Way South

As demand for complementary medicine has grown I have been assisted in the Letchworth practice by some very able colleagues including my current associates, Trevor Reeves ND, DO, LicAc, and Maria Costello BSc(Hons)OstMed, ND, with a dedicated support staff headed by my wife, Birgid, who keeps us all on our toes as practice manager, and our secretary, Judie Starkey. To all these, and many others who through the years have helped us to provide a high quality natural health service to the local community, I want to express my appreciation.

Perhaps most of all we owe a debt of gratitude to the many patients who, through the past fifty years, have shown and continue to show their commitment to natural medicine and their trust in the healing power of nature.

Roger Newman Turner

The vital elements of better health care As interest in more natural forms of health creation has grown through the years I have had the privilege of being involved in various initiatives to make these more readily available. Among the most important of these were the establishment of the Research Council for Complementary Medicine twenty five years ago and a series of colloquia at the Royal Society of Medicine held at the instigation of the Prince of Wales. I have also lectured at conferences on integrated medicine both nationally and internationally. Research and education are two vital elements in the development of naturopathic medicine but to work effectively alongside mainstream medicine it is essential for people to understand the underlying philosophy and principles upon which it is based. The whole rationale for natural health care is set out in my book Naturopathic Medicine- treating the whole person. For more about this and other health topics visit our website www.naturomed.co.uk. RNT

A pasture but no cattle The practice was first opened in our home at the top of what was Garth Road, in Letchworth.  When the local council wished to divide the road to prevent it being used as a short cut to Letchworth Lane they asked the residents at the top to suggest names for their part of the road. F. Newman Turner’s suggestion of Pasture Road was adopted as, at that time, the area beyond the four houses at the top was, indeed, just pasture. When we moved there, my father also leased the paddock below our garden with a view to keeping a couple of Jersey cows. The Garden City Corporation, however, would not grant permission for this on the grounds that cattle would be too noisy. He could keep horses or chickens, they said, but not cows!