WHEN Bea Hurst and her husband Ian left Tipperary for South Africa, there were many well wishers to see them off and wish them well in their new life in Cape Town. It was very much the same group that gathered at Martinstown Church for Bea’s memorial service recently. She passed away in Cape Town after a short illness aged 66.

Born in East Africa where her father Denis practised as a doctor, the family returned to Ireland when Bea and her twin brother Tony were just two years old and the family took up residence in Scarteen where her dad acted as whip to Thady Ryan for two seasons.