PENLEY, LLANERCH
PANNA and ISCOYD PARK Polish Hospitals. |
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On the border of England and North
Wales in an area known as Maelor, three large American Army Hospitals were
built in preparation for D-day casualties.
Penley Hall no. 129 General Hospital
with 1,000 beds, Llanerch Panna no. 83 Station Hospital with 800 beds and a
200 bed hospital in Iscoyd Park near Whitchurch. After the war, in
August 1946, detachments of the Polish Resettlement Corps arrived from
Italy, with former Polish Army field hospitals in tow. The now empty
hospital buildings in Llanerch Panna became Polish Hospital no. 11, those
in Penley
Polish Hospital no. 3 and those at Iscoyd Park no. 4 Polish (TB) Hospital. |
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The roots of the Polish field
hospital that came to Penley in 1946 go back to the dark days at
the start of war in 1939. Sixteen days after Poland was
invaded by Germany from the west Russia invaded Poland from
the east, thousands of Polish citizens men, women and children were
deported by the Soviets to gulags and labour camps in the
depths of Siberia. Germany's attack on the Soviet Union brought a
short amnesty which enabled a Polish Army to be formed under the
command
of general W. Anders. All the able bodied men joined the
army and the women joined the PSK (similar to the British A.T.S.) and nursing services. |
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This was the beginning of an epic
journey from Siberia through Persia, the Middle East, Iraq,
Palestine, Egypt, Italy and ending in Penley in the UK. It is almost impossible to
describe the nightmare journey through Siberia to Pahlavi in Persia,
with just a small supply of drugs and little equipment. People were suffering not only
from malnutrition and exhaustion but dysentery and malaria which
resulted in a death rate of over 25 patients daily, the most
vulnerable were the young and the elderly. |
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On arrival in Persia the surviving
civilian population were sent to DP camps in Africa and India and
the hospital followed the Polish Army through the Middle East to
Italy, where the Polish 2nd. Corps was fighting side by side with
the British 8th. Army. |
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In August 1946 the
field hospital was shipped lock stock and barrel to the UK and
made its home in the three empty hospital camps in Maelor. |
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Originally the hospitals were staffed
and equipped for the treatment of sick and injured Polish soldiers
but in 1947 the military hospitals were taken over by the Ministry of Pensions
for the treatment not only of Polish war pensioners and ex-servicemen but
also their families. In 1949 Llanerch Panna closed down and the patients
were moved to hospital no. 3 in Penley and hospital no. 4 at Yscoyd
Park. Yscoyd treated patients with TB and mental health problems. With the
introduction of antibiotics the TB cases
diminished and in 1956 Yscoyd Park was closed and the remaining
patients were moved to Penley hospital. |
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By now hospital no. 3
in Penley evolved into a general Polish hospital catering for the needs
of all Polish patients, young and old, with language difficulties living in camps throughout the North West and the Midlands. Courtesy of the American army
leaving most of the equipment intact the hospital was well equipped, with its
own X-ray department, physiotherapy, operating theatre and many other
departments including a maternity
unit. Many second generation Poles were born there, sadly not all survived,
among the 180 Polish graves
in St. Mary
Magdalene churchyard Penley, there are
some 60 odd Polish babies and infants buried with
only a handful of head stones still standing. These children were born
to parents in a poor state of health after the ravages of war and
concentration camps. The first baby to be buried was Eva Maria Aynewska,
aged 8 hours, buried 19 November 1946. |
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The cinema 1950's |
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Penley the largest of the
three camps housed not only the Hospital but also doctors,
nurses and all the auxiliary staff and their families
needed for running the hospital. The camp had its own nursery,
entertainment hall, club room, a full-size snooker table and a well
equipped cinema with authentic cinema seats. |
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One of the barracks was converted into a
church, so life for the Polish people running the hospital
did not differ from other family camps that were scattered around the UK.
the same Polish cultural and religious traditions were observed. This
family atmosphere also benefited the patients who, where possible, were
involved in the community life. |
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Corpus Christi Procession |
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The
church. |
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Above photos reproduced
from the book" The Spirit of Penley " written by Shirley and
Derrick Pratt |
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The church
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dedicated to "Our Lady of Ostrabrama in
Wilno"
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had an icon of Our
Lady of Ostrabrama which was made, from empty coffee tins, by Polish soldiers in the Military
Hospital at El Kantara in 1943. This religious symbol followed the hospital
through the Middle East, Italy all the
way to Iscoyd Park and, when that Hospital closed in 1956, the icon adorned
the camp's church in Penley until its closure in 2002. |
Today the icon and its history
can be see in all its glory in the newly build Hospital. |
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In 1961 with an
ageing Polish population the hospital took on a new role, caring for the
old, disabled and chronically sick in need of constant hospital care.
Over the years with a dwindling Polish population in need of hospitalisation, Penley hospital was winding down from 720 beds in 1947 to a handful by
the late 1990s. In 2002 the hospital housed only six patients who
occupied
just one of the 30 wards on the site. |
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Some of the wards in 1986. |
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Kazimierz Kosarzewski age 92 one
of many inmates came to Penley from Leek in 1986 |
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It was not economically viable
to keep the whole site open for a handful of patients so a new
single-storey unit with bungalow-style eight room accommodation was build
close to the original camp and opened in 2004. The new facilities provide
patients with individual rooms with much greater privacy and dignity and a
more comfortable environment for their long-term care and respite. |
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The camp in PENLEY
TODAY Photos taken in 2006 |
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Some of
the old camp and hospital buildings that still remain on the site are used
by small businesses. |
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Other than the barracks that for over 55 years served as a Polish hospital,
treating not only wounded soldiers but also civilians, the other reminder of a Polish presence in the area can be found in a number
of cemeteries containing the graves of over 280 Polish servicemen as well
as the 180
civilian graves in Penley churchyard. |
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More information can be
found
Penley Poles |
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There are 2 books with further information and photos "A Millennium History of Penley" and
" The Spirit of Penley " both written by Shirley and
Derrick Pratt |
Also "Penley A History of the Polish
Hospital in Pictures 1946-1999" written by Keith B. Jones |
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