Dr Kathleen Berger 1920 – 2018
On 24 July, Dr Kathleen Berger was called
home aged 98.
Kathleen Berger trained as a doctor and
entered the Army in WWII, rising to the
rank of Captain. When she was demobbed
she joined the Bermondsey Medical Mission.
After
the war, new housing estates were
built
in
the London suburbs and people
were moved out. With no GP practices in
the area, people would walk miles back into
Bermondsey. In 1950, Dr Berger was asked
to become the family doctor to the Coppice
Estate in Petts Wood, south east London.
Lasting change
I have a confession to make — I am not very touchy feely. When contestants in a reality TV show dissolve into tears because they ‘want it soooo much’, I’m afraid I am left unmoved.
Those films which try so hard to pull on the heart strings and leave you an emotional wreck — I can shrug them off. I didn’t even cry when Bambi’s mother got shot.