My Childhood with Nina Carberry: I’ve never been afraid of competing thanks to my brothers

Carberry and her four older brothers - Thomas, Paul, Mark, and Philip - spent their days riding ponies around their family farm in Co Meath.

MEP Nina Carberry at the launch of the Ratoath Alzheimer’s Memory Walk supported by Aviva. Picture: David Mullen/cyberimages.net

The Midlands-North-West MEP and former champion National Hunt jockey Nina Carberry cherishes her memories, particularly in light of the memory loss experienced by both her parents. Her father Tommy, a garlanded jockey and trainer, died with dementia in 2017, while her mother Pamela is currently living with Alzheimer’s.

“Dad was 75 and living in a nursing home when he died,” she says. “It was hard to witness the toll dementia took on him. Mum is still living at home and a carer comes in to mind her every day. In all of my memories, she’s an independent woman who played a big part in the life of our home and farm, and it’s great she’s still able to play a part in some way.”