This is now the 7th of our weekly blog posts and we've spoken lots about several foot, ankle and lower limb pathologies and how we can prevent and treat them...but we haven't spoken about WHO we actually are, not just as Podiatrists but as people, who the people within and behind the practice are and it's origins.
So here's how we got started!
Mr D.L.Perry set up what was then called D L Perry Chiropodist, a Chiropody clinic in Brixton. Mr. Perry treated many patients, with a particular focus on the treatment of corns, callus, hammer toes, fungal nails and ingrown toenails.
In 1959, the Brixton practice closed and Mr D. Perry took over his brother, Mr. W. Perry's practice on St John's Hill in Battersea.
In 1984 his daughter, Amanda Perry-Harding qualified as a Chiropodist and joined the surgery whilst working part time in the NHS. In the mid 1980's the practice relocated from St John's Hill to it's current location at 90 Battersea Rise allowing space for more Podiatrists to join the growing team. 1993 saw the international recognition of the name Podiatrist to replace Chiropodist, a reflection on the evolution of the field as a whole.
Over the years many reception team members worked as part of the team, and in 2000 Jackie Pavitt joined the FootHealth Battersea family and is still here today greeting the patients with a friendly smile!
2003 saw Simon Harding, Amanda's husband, join the team running the business side of the practice, at which point the practice procedures and protocols and every day running became more business minded, allowing the Podiatrists within the team to focus solely on the patient care and treatments.
In early 2004, the practice name was changed to Battersea Rise FootHealth Ltd, trading as FootHealth Battersea. It was at this point that Mr Perry, Amanda Perry-Harding and Simon Harding became the company directors with Mr Perry's wife, Mrs H Perry, becoming the company secretary.
In 2007, Amanda and Simon relocated to North Cyprus, where Amanda worked for the Diabetic Association of North Cyprus as their Podiatrist in the state hospital before opening FootHealth Battersea's sister clinic FootHealth Alsancak.
Sadly, in 2008, following a short and sudden battle with cancer, Mr. Perry passed away leaving behind him a legacy of incredible patient care and treatment.
2016 saw the families third generation join the team as Sarah Pellumbi (nee Harding - that's me!), Amanda and Simon's daughter became the Practice Director, overseeing the day to day running of the practice until taking maternity leave for her second child in 2019 and then returning in 2020 as the Marketing Director.
In 2018 one of Amanda's sisters Carolynne Farrer (nee Perry) joined the team as a receptionist and due to her previous training and HR background working for Sodexho became the reception team leader. In February 2020 Jessica Harding (Amanda and Simon's second daughter) joined the practice training to be a Foot Health Practitioner with the view to following in her mothers footsteps to become a fully qualified Podiatrist. Now a fully qualified Foot Health Practitioner, Jess leads and provides our aesthetic services.
Our current team of Podiatrists includes Veronica James and Bethany Clarke who both joined us in 2021.
Over the last 61 years we have been part of our local community through thick and thin; wars, recessions, riots and now this global pandemic. During these particularly trying and difficult times, it is more important than ever to be able to support each other and so from our Foothealth Battersea family to yours, stay safe.