Chiropractor moves on from Campbelltown after 48 years

IT WILL a bittersweet moment when chiropractor Gordon Brinsmead closes the door of his Campbelltown clinic for the last time after 48 years.

Chiropractor Gordon Brinsmead is putting up his feat and winding down after 48 years in Campbelltown. Picture: IAN SVEGOVIC

IT WILL a bittersweet moment on January 18 when chiropractor Gordon Brinsmead closes the door of his Campbelltown clinic for the last time after 48 years in the community.

January 18 marks the exact date 48 years ago that Mr Brinsmead, of Tahmoor, opened the Brinsmead Chiropractic Clinic in Queen St, Campbelltown.

Many different stores, fellow shop owners and a lifetime of service to the community later, Mr Brinsmead, 76, is winding down from the business.

The chiropractor and passionate painter will continue operating his Tahmoor clinic on a part-time basis, but is saying goodbye to Campbelltown.

Mr Brinsmead, a keen piano player, says he can recall the changes the little town of Campbelltown has gone throughduring the past half-century to become the bustling city it is today.

"We used to park in the main street all day without being fined; now you can't do that," he said.

"There were only 12,000 people in the area when we started in Queen St and I was the first chiropractor in the area back then.

"Now there are 20-odd chiropractors and a quarter of a million population in Campbelltown, so really the ratios of chiropractors to people is exactly the same as when I came here."

Mr Brinsmead - who enjoys park scaping and tending to his Tahmoor property, which has been selected to appear on national television - said meeting all different kinds of people was what he had enjoyed the most during his 48 years on Queen St.

"We have always found that at the end of the day we say to each other 'haven't we met the loveliest lot of people today'," he said.

Mr Brinsmead said while the decision to leave behind his Queen St business was an emotional one, it would afford him more time to focus on his many passions such as painting and playing the piano.

"It's sad to leave," he said.

"But I think I have done a pretty good service to the community in that time."