In Depth:  Stuart Cross

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Dr Kathleen Berger 1920 – 2018

Dr Kathleen Berger 1920 – 2018

Stuart Cross

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

Stuart Cross

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.