RETIRED nurse Eileen Andrews, known as Andy, has died at the age of 89.

Andy was born in 1928 and raised near Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, home to the Duke of Rutland.

Her father was the Duke's gamekeeper and Andy played on the estate as a child, in the castle grounds. Her mother was a district nurse who did her rounds on a bike.

Andy followed in her mother's footsteps and trained as a nurse at the Brighton Eye Hospital, before moving to Australia in her early 20s. She joined the Australian Army Nursing Corps.

Many years later, she returned to England and spent much of the 1970s and 1980s working as a nurse in the eye department of the Royal IW County Hospital, Ryde.

On her retirement, Andy, who lived in Ryde, went on a dream safari to the Masai Mara on her own. The experience stayed with her for the rest of her life and she often talked about it.

The funeral service is to be arranged.