Beryl Linehan has received the Benemerenti medal from the Pope for her charity work. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0544939)
A CASTEL woman has been recognised by the Pope for her work with children and charities.
Beryl Linehan, 83, has raised almost £20,000 for Life by selling second-hand books and potatoes from the roadside at her Rue des Goddards cottage. She has fostered several children and leads a team which knits blankets for Romania and Dr Sue Wilson’s Tumaini charity, which aids orphans in Tanzania.
Mrs Linehan regularly attends St Mary & St Michael Catholic Church at Delancey but on Sunday her family persuaded her to go with them to 8am Mass at St Joseph’s.
‘My hearing is not that good and I heard Father Michael Hore saying something about the Pope honouring a mother, but I couldn’t hear anything else,’ she said.
‘After about five minutes I heard him say that she had fostered several children over the years and sells books from outside her house.
‘I thought “Goodness!” he’s talking about me, and I nearly died.’
Father Michael presented Mrs Linehan with the Benemerenti Medal and a framed certificate.
‘I knew of the medal and that it was awarded through the Catholic Church, but I didn’t know how,’ she said.
‘I do know of someone else who has got the medal, but they’re not thrown about frequently.’
Mrs Linehan has devoted her life to children.
She was a matron at Swissville for 14 years up to her retirement in 1987 when she joined the Union of Catholic Mothers. She believes the Mothers were prime instigators in her getting the medal.
She found her mission in life aged 16 when she was evacuated with her mother. They spent the five years at Mosley Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire, looking after children from La Chaumiere School.
She has five children of her own, three foster children who remain closely attached, and 13 grandchildren. Her husband Jim died in 2004.
Her family grows potatoes at Pleinmont, which she sells from her home with a commission which goes to the Life charity.
She has sold books for the past 20 years and regularly gets them given to her.
Her total raised to date stands at £19,480 and all goes to the same cause. ‘I believe in the sanctity of life, which is why I work for Life,’ she said.
Mrs Linehan has a team of people who knit woollen squares for her, which she sews together to make blankets for the underprivileged.
‘It’s the thought of children wrapping themselves in the blankets to keep warm that drives me on,’ she said.
* The Benemerenti Medal was instituted by Pope Gregory XVI in 1832.
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