CHIROPRACTOR Richard Brown is spending a month in Botswana working for a spinal care charity.

Richard, from Chalford Hill, left this week to volunteer with World Spine Care, a global charity which treats spinal disorders in the developing world.

With 25 years experience, Richard is well known in Stroud and owned the Lansdown Clinic for 20 years before retiring in November.

“Spinal disorders are a serious issue in developing parts of Africa. They stop people from being able to work and feed their families,” said Richard, who is chairman of the Chiropractic Research Council.

“People do back-breaking work for long hours in difficult and often unsafe conditions. Many will never have consulted anyone about back pain and simply become more and more disabled as they get older.

“It will be a privilege to work with these people to help improve their quality of life.”

Clinics are being run at a district hospital in Malahapye near the capital Gabarone and in a small rural community.

Starting at 7am, Richard will work in clinics equipped thanks to donations made to the charity.

Richard is relocating to Canada later this year to take up a role heading the World Federation of Chiropractic, which is linked to the World Health Organization. As secretary-general, he will be responsible for overseeing the organisation, which has over 90 country members in seven world regions. He will, however, retain his Stroud connections because of family ties to the area.