Sam talks about studying at Wensum Lodge which inspired a change of career from financial services to massage and owning a clinic, and providing a supportive community for other professional therapists.
I was born in London and came to Norfolk when I was six as my parents wanted to bring up their children in the countryside. I went to school in Attleborough, then to Wymondham College and then started my first job at Norwich Union.
I worked in Scotland and London and saved up lots of money and decided that I wanted to go travelling so I rented my house out and in 2007, for a year, I travelled the world. I learned that I really liked the treatments that I experienced when travelling and when came back, I was like, ‘How materialistic am I? I don’t like this way of life’ and I wanted to offer something back.
So, I had a look at the courses available and one of them was massage on a Tuesday night at Wensum Lodge, and it fitted in really nicely as it was straight after I finished work, it was close to work and I could walk there, so I thought. ‘Right I am going to go and try that.
Wensum Lodge and Jurnet’s bar
We studied for four hours on a Tuesday night and we did this for a year. The lady who taught the course, Christine, did a class in the morning as well as the evening but evening worked better for me.
There were grants available for people who couldn’t afford it which was really good as it gave everyone the opportunity for a new career. People who worked full time, like me, paid for the course, which was totally fine and the right thing to do. It was my choice to do it and for me it was just going to be a hobby.
When I first walked down to Wensum Lodge – down a dark road in my high heels because I was coming straight from work, I was in a little bit of trepidation of what it was going to be like, and I got lost because there were so many buildings there and I wasn’t too sure where I was going! There were lots of different buildings, some were a little bit older than others, and we were in one of the older buildings in quite a large room, I love windows and it had big windows.
When we walked in our teacher made us do this really mad dance called Five Rhythms Dance and I thought that she was teaching us to, you know, let off the craziness of the day, as we’d all come from corporate jobs. But I think that half of it was to actually warm up the room because it was cold when we walked in.
We had 20 people in our class, all different ages, including one gentleman who was lovely. He was in his 60s and he had come on the course because he had massaged his wife’s hands and feet when she was dying of cancer, and he saw the relief that that had given and wanted to be able to offer that to other people.
We learned all sorts of subjects, anatomy, physiology and pathology so that we could look after the client to the best of our abilities. We practised on each other as well as family and friends.
At the end of the year we came out with a Level 3 BTEC and once you had finished the course you were professionally qualified and I found that that first course was really good for me because it gave me the confidence to massage. I started working at Wood Farm in Starston, overlooking a lake, for two evenings and a Saturday morning and I loved it, it was the best place ever to start.
We did socialise in Jurnet’s bar and the thing that I remember is that it was slightly damp down there. We all kind of hid in the corner in this little snug bit and got our drinks. We could only spend a certain amount of time there and the teacher always had to come and get us and we always enjoyed being down there.
Turning a hobby into a profession, further training and returning to study at Wensum Lodge
I was a bit apprehensive about turning this into a full-time occupation, and to be honest I think that I just needed a bit of a kick. I was being paid well at Norwich Union but they made me redundant when I was pregnant with my first child, so I had no choice.
I loved the passion and what it gave me, but would I still love it if I did it as a full-time occupation? I didn’t need to worry, as I love doing it full time.
As I was working with clients, I found that I wanted to offer more, so I learnt things like aromatherapy, reflexology, Indian head massage and advanced massage with Alison Rostron on Unthank Road in Norwich. I also went on to do some sports massage but that was just too brutal, not the way that I wanted to work, so I went to Brighton and did a degree in Clinical Sports Massage.
I also found that people needed a little bit more, once they started to take their clothes off people lost their inhibitions and were trying to confide things in me that I maybe wasn’t ready to deal with. So, I went back to Wensum Lodge the year after I qualified to do Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) so that I could deal with holding that space for people – them being able to talk to me and me knowing the right response.
That really helped me very much again, I knew that I could go back there because you just felt safe in that environment, to learn.
Career after Wensum Lodge at the Lanes Clinic
I have trained as a further education teacher and also trained specifically with The Massage Institute. I just feel that their way was a very nice way of allowing people to learn, people with all different difficulties, learning massage and give people a career.
I had been working here for seven years and had wanted to rent it about eight years ago, but the guy said that he couldn’t rent it and had to sell, so I bought it.
I love trees and we have got trees, we’ve got a 16th century building with six rooms which means that I can offer a community to other therapists which, you know, I think that you really need when you work in your own. So within these walls, we’ve got podiatrists, physiotherapists, other massage therapists, and counsellors.
I just wanted to create a community of people that would help each other and everybody here is very highly qualified. Most of the massage therapists have done the same training as me because I want to make sure that all the clients who come here are helped to be the best and get to the best that they can.
Plans for the future
So, I have recently bought a camper van and just absolutely adore being outside and realised that maybe that’s the next place for me. So, I’d like to buy a piece of land with a lake and build a lodge so that I can teach and train there and my other friends can come and help me teach there.
I could maybe have hook-ups so that people can bring their tents or camper vans and stuff and it can be a little bit of a retreat. It would be a really nice place to have, to learn, I don’t think that we give ourselves that sometimes. We run back from work, we go out to learn, we run back home again, there are so many things demanding of us that I think that it will be quite nice to give people some space.
All of which happened after signing up to a night class at Wensum Lodge
I really do feel grateful for that. I mean my first teacher Christine opened me up to things that I would have never thought of doing myself because I was very corporate. That was the way that I had been brought up, to work, buy a house, do all the things that you were supposed to.
And I would have never realised that I had a passion for something like massage as it’s very different to financial advice!
So that spark that came from Wensum Lodge was amazing and it transformed my life.
Closure of Wensum Lodge
This historical building, I love restoring things and I just feel that it would be an amazing thing if it could be restored and used for the community in some way.
Now, whether that is teaching or some other way because the buildings were amazing, I know that they don’t look as good as they did back then but they were amazing and I think that there is quite a lot of potential, so I would love that.
Sam Quinton talking to WISEArchive in Norwich on 7th November 2024. © 2024 WISEArchive. All Rights Reserved
