Guinea Pig Club - Rebuilding Bodies & Souls

In September 1939, the arrival of Archibald McIndoe in East Grinstead changed the history of the town, its hospital and the lives of those he touched, forever.

Each and every one of the 649 Allied Aircrew treated at the Queen Victoria Hospital knew that they were, “just a guinea pig for the Maestro.” The pioneering treatment of burns patients by McIndoe and his team has gone on to underpin modern plastic surgery as we know it today. McIndoe’s interest in his men did not stop with his surgical procedures. He knew if the men were to have any future he needed to help them recover their place in the world too.

In 1941 a few recovering airmen formed a drinking group and the Guinea Pig Club was born. It was indeed “the most exclusive club in the world but the entrance fee is something most men would not care to pay and the conditions of membership are arduous in the extreme.” Vitally, through the comradeship of its members and the encouragement of McIndoe, the club has gone on to be a support network that celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2016.