Hanneke van der Merwe

Retired, caretaker at The Bridge Hanneke and her husband, who passed away from a heart attack only a month before Platteland visited, moved to St Lucia from Middelburg in 2013. This was shortly after their only grandchild was killed in a freak accident at the age of 16. “We just had to get away,” she says. “We used to come to St Lucia on holiday, and he came with us many times. He’d catch fish with his grandpa. We had so many wonderful memories.” Hanneke has decided to stay in St Lucia, and she is the caretaker of three flats at The Bridge. “I will keep busy for as long as I am healthy. It’s safe and quiet here, a real ‘old people’s town’! I keep busy; I’m not someone to sit around brooding. I often drive to Cape Vidal and walk around a bit there.”