Robert Brown

Robert

Hood

Brown

(1947 - )

A familiar face to patients at the Hereward Medical Practice in Exeter Street is Bob Brown, the practice manager, who has also made his mark in the wider community, notably through his work with the Rotary Club of Bourne and more recently Bourne United Charities.

Robert Hood Brown was born in Edinburgh on the 22nd August 1947, being given his paternal grandmother’s maiden name as a middle name, a peculiarly Scottish habit. He grew up in the seaside resort of North Berwick, East Lothian, where his father was the head green keeper at the local golf course while his mother worked as a nursing auxiliary and also ran a boarding house. It was their belief that everyone had a duty to help others, a conviction that remains a motivation with his public work today.

He has two brothers and a sister and was educated at North Berwick High School where he was in the first class to take the newly introduced O levels but was desperate to explore new places and when he was 15, joined the Royal Air Force Boys’ Entrant Scheme in 1963. It was an uncertain choice at that age but he stayed for 27 years, working throughout that time in the Medical Branch, completing two overseas tours, one in Aden (1966-67) and later at Rheindahlen, Germany (1983-86). He also served as a paramedic with the RAF Regiment for three years, with a Ministry of Defence management unit for five years and as an aero-med specialist for the last ten years of his service.

“By this time I was married with children but was travelling all over the world and seeing sights many will never witness”, said Bob. “The best posting was probably Rheindahlen as we were together for a long time as a family and it was a wrench to leave as we really settled into the community.”

Bob had married Laura in 1977 and they moved to Bourne in 1987, living in Grosvenor Avenue for 15 years. At first, he was stationed at the RAF Strike Command base at Wittering, near Stamford, and the family had now grown to two girls and a boy, Helen, Sarah and Graham. The local schools in Bourne with their high reputation were therefore an important factor in his decision to leave the RAF in 1989 when he was offered the post of Practice Manager at the Hereward clinic.

A new general practitioner contract opened up opportunities for such posts and as he was already experienced in GP training in the RAF, the transition was made that much easier. “I then grew in experience as the National Health Service changed”, said Bob. “The biggest innovation was to bring computers into the clinic for all to use. I was also given the job of finding a new home for the Hereward practice when took eight years, 27 sites and five planning applications before we finished up at our present location in Exeter Street and a new chapter is about to start for the NHS and general practice in particular. It is too soon to say where it will end up but it is safe to say that things will be different.”

After moving to Bourne, Bob looked around for outside interests with the community, shunning politics as a poisoned chalice, and choosing instead education, joining the Parent Teacher and Families Association at Bourne Grammar School in 1983 where he stayed for six years, finding the work rewarding by helping the school, if only in a small but important way.

He widened his horizons in 2002 and joined the Rotary Club of Bourne where he was surprised at the work this voluntary organisation does internationally and locally and often unnoticed, becoming its President in 2008-09. “I have learnt so much about the world we live in and how important every individual is and hopefully I can continue to make a small difference to someone’s life somewhere”, he said.

In 2006, he became a trustee of the Bourne United Charities, the town’s most important philanthropic institution responsible for handling the bequests of past legacies and the upkeep of many leisure and welfare institutions, becoming chairman for 2010-11.

“This is a post I took very seriously“, said Bob. “Previous trustees had the foresight to put in place a structure that has secured the charities for the people of the Parish of Bourne. But the organisation is changing. Newer trustees are taking it forward in many new ways, with new ideas and schemes. It will take time for this transition to take place but all the trustees are working very hard to ensure that BUC will continue to support the parish for a long time to come. Anyone who lives in Bourne can consider themselves fortunate to have a town with so much to offer. The local community is warm and friendly and their generosity towards others knows no bounds.”

His public work continues and in 2012, while leading negotiations over land ownership at Bourne Grammar School, then applying for academy status, he was appointed a school governor and a trustee of the Bourne Educational Foundation.