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Penley Poles |
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Growing up at Penley
The Bereza family in the late 50s. From left to right – Andy, Stanley, Dr Bereza and Mrs Zofia Bereza. |
Andy Bereza was born at Penley, in 1949. He and his younger brother Stanley, and sister grew up in the camp, attended the schools there, and were part of the established Polish community. He remembers having, " an incredible upbringing we spoke Polish until the age of five or six, then learnt English at school with a Liverpool accent, because that was where the teacher came from."
Andy's parents were both Polish. Andy's father, Dr Michael Bereza, was born in Poland in 1903. Dr Bereza was a Colonel in the Polish Army Medical Corps at the beginning of the war. After the invasion, he escaped through Rumania to join the Polish army units being formed in France. Following the German invasion in 1940 his journey continued and he escaped to the Middle East.
This plaque celebrates the Carpathian Division, whose veteran club is based in Manchester. The symbols on the plaque include that of the British Eighth Army alongside which the Poles fought. |
There he became Chief Medical Officer for the famous Carpathian Brigade that fought as part of the British Eighth Army in North Africa and Italy and distinguished itself at the battles of Tobruk and Monte Cassino. He met his wife Zofia Gallot, who was the daughter of the former Polish Minister for Transport, while on leave in Palestine.
At the end of the war, Dr Bereza arrived in the UK and was appointed Deputy Head of the Polish Medical Corps, supporting Polish Forces for the whole of the UK, which numbered in the region of 200,000. After demobilisation in 1947, he administered Penley for the Ministry of Health and later, under the NHS. He continued a struggle to keep Penley Hospital open until his retirement, including pleading the case with the Enoch Powell, while he was Minister of Health. After working in so many countries, Dr Bereza had developed an unusual management style. Andy explains that: "Dad introduced some interesting practices in the hospital. Whilst in Africa, he was used to taking a break between one and three pm, because of the heat. At Penley, he insisted that the rest of the staff took one too, which made for a better working atmosphere".
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