Adversity the Spur

The History of Physiotherapy Education at Oswestry

One of the oldest schools of physiotherapy in the United Kingdom that now operates from a university base (at Keele University) is the one founded at Baschurch in Shropshire in 1909 by Dame Agnes Hunt. She was a charismatic person who defied family, social convention and significant physical disability to devote her life to the service of people with orthopaedic problems. As practitioners, qualifiers from Oswestry are recognised for their sound clinical skills; they have determination and persistence and the ability to cope calmly with challenging situations. They have a strong sense of justice, and are devoted to their profession and loyal to their training school. The long and sometimes arduous journey from Baschurch to Keele is charted in this text, which accounts the progress of the school from its origins in a small private specialist hospital to becoming part of a thriving university. The school reaches its centenary in October 2009 and the story of its progress from 1909 to 1996 is the period covered here