Catherine Power photo

The recent passing of Lady Melissa Brooke has been recognised with obituaries in both the local and sporting press, but her main passion in life warranted only a passing mention. She was a dyed-in-the-wool foxhunter with a life-long connection to the County Limerick Foxhounds.

She had spent the war years in New York where her American-born mother had taken the children―Melissa, Caroline (now the Marchioness of Waterford), and Thady (later the Earl of Dunraven) during hostilities.