My sister Beverley held many degrees and many talents.
In the 70's in Hillbrow Johannesburg, a grey area, she introduced leather sandal making and hat making and sold clay shalompies cannabis pipes as incense holders to get around the law.
She played flamenco and folk music and used to play with my father who was a gypsy guitarist. We were constantly entertained by exquisite music.
We did not share the same father, her father had honourable mention in the World War 2 for the Royal Air Force and later became a top attorney.
Her obsession with sustainability led her to complete her master’s on biodiversity and how festivals very often destroy the land even though the hippie culture thinks it's acceptable, she as an original hippie did not.
In 1968 we demonstrated in the centre of London against the Vietnam war handing out flowers where I got the name of 'flower child'.
In the 60's all 5 foot, 1 inch, weighing 25 kilogram's she rode a 750 cc motorbike. Beverley held her own as a multi-talented blonde babe who travelled the world lived on tiny islands off Mozambique, ran from the police " Flat foot" in London for busking on the street.
She gave birth to Byron and James in South Africa. Years later she up and left to live in Ireland to her lover Tony from when she was 16. She settled in Dublin and lived there for over 20 years.
In 2022, during Covid, I notice that she started forgetting important things. Our extremely interesting debates were weakening and I asked her to be tested for dementia. She refused. I was in the middle of my master’s and could not get over there.
November 2022, I made my way to Dublin and although she seemed to be in good spirits she had fallen over and ended up in hospital. She was then diagnosed with dementia. Her cat had been left alone in their home in Dublin for weeks and was very sick. Her home in Dublin when she received it, was a grotty grey cement back garden council flat. She had the cement removed and grew a fig tree which was taller than a double storey house when I left and when she left. She changed the bath, painted the place and added a fireplaces etc. It was unrecognisable by the time she had put her stamp on it.
During her dementia, thieves took advantage of her good nature and managed to convince her they were friends and they took all her jewellery that she had either made or bought on her journeys. Her purses were emptied and the police or 'Garda' as they call it in ireland refused to help.
My friend Lee, from South Africa, had moved to an area in Ireland, County Claire, where Bev always wanted to live so I managed to arrange that Bev was placed in a small and intimate home in this exquisite area.
I would like to have brought her back to London but now with her mental state and the cat looked after by my friend, it seemed the best option.
On 18 June 2023, my friend Lee left work early, picked flowers from the meadow and rushed to her side. She was holding Bev's hand as she took her last breath. Her cat passed away soon after.
I chose to have her ashes scattered, which, by synchronicity, turned out to be the area where my friend Lee worked. Beverley's ashes were scattered in the wild and beautiful sea at the Cliffs of Moher where Mermaids swim.
Their natural beauty has inspired artists, musicians, and poets for generations, films such as Harry Potter filmed there, as well as absorbing scientists and geologists, drawn by the unique landscape in which they sit.
The Cliffs of Moher, the most famous cliffs in Ireland.
The Cliffs of Moher Spanning 14 kilometres (8.7 miles) along the west coast of Ireland, the cliffs stand at 702 feet (214 metres) above the wild Atlantic Ocean 320 million years in the making during the Carboniferous Period.
Eternally Grateful for Lee's loving input.
