Lives Were Filled With Adventure

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday November 23, 1999

Sydney brothers Scott and Paul Beardsmore filled their young lives with adventure sports like abseiling, canyoning and snowboarding expeditions such as the one that claimed their lives near Mt Kosciuszko three months ago.

A week after their bodies were pulled from a snow cave, where they perished with 25-year-old snowboarders Timothy Friend and Dean Pincini, the Beardsmore brothers were farewelled yesterday by hundreds of mourners at St Alban's Anglican Church at Frenchs Forest, in Sydney's north.

The brothers' father Trevor Beardsmore, emotionally torn at the loss of two of his three sons, struggled to deliver his eulogies but said, ``I cannot let my sons go unless we tell you how proud we are of them".

``Gail (my wife) and I are extremely proud of our boys, what they achieved in their short lives and the way in which they have behaved," Mr Beardsmore said.

Snowboards and other sporting gear belonging to Scott, 26, and Paul, 24, were trophied at the front of the church where their caskets might normally have been placed. A moving tribute by close friends about the brothers' love for yachting and other outdoor sports was followed by the song Sailing by Rod Stewart, which brought uncontrollable sobs from many young friends.

The Beardsmore family had watched Paul struggle through most of his first nine months as a baby in hospital, where he survived 17 operations.

``The doctors said he never looked like giving up," Mr Beardsmore said.

Scott also had some hearing and development problems ``but this determination to succeed was to become a trademark of his life".