SUE DENNIS, general manager at Fixby, will captain the Yorkshire Ladies County Golf Association in 2009.
She moved in as vice-captain at the annual meeting in Harrogate this week when Otley’s Winifred Varley succeeded Sue Milner, from York, in the top post for next season.
Though officially listed as being from Shipley, where she is a member, Mrs Dennis will become the ninth with connections at Fixby to captain Yorkshire Ladies.
Those to have led the county team are Mrs E G Walker (1901), Mrs H Lister (1906 and 1907), Mrs J Morrell (1970), Mrs S Johnson (1981), Miss P Wrightson (1985), Mrs S Guest (1993), Mrs B Parker (1995), Mrs J Macgill (2003).
Dennis, formerly a member at West End, where she is now a social member, has a long association with Yorkshire.
After serving on the executive for several years, she was appointed secretary in 1999, a position she filled for two years.
She then became secretary of the English Ladies Association, based at Edgbaston, in 2001 and was heavily involved when the national body celebrated its golden jubilee in 2002.
Dennis, who lives at Bingley and who won a blue at Oxford – for cricket! – was appointed general manager at Fixby, one of the top jobs in Yorkshire club golf, in March 2003.
Of her upcoming role as captain of Yorkshire, the English champions, she said: “I am thrilled and proud to be involved in that role. I’m really looking forward to it.
“We have lost one of our top players with Rachel Bell turning professional but we have some super young players coming through and I expect we shall have a good team again.”
Those young players will be even more experienced by 2009 and with Emma Duggleby, from Malton & Norton, still among the best players in the country, and Sara Garbutt, another international from Ganton, who won the county title at Fixby in May, in the ranks, Yorkshire can remain a force, even though Curtis Cup player Naomi Edwards, from Ganton, may not still be an amateur.
Milner, who led the county to their fourth successive English championship in September, stepped up to the office of vice-president at the annual meeting when Hallamshire’s Maureen Lockett was re-elected president.
Liz Haw (Harrogate) was re-elected honorary secretary.
Fixby’s Melody Ludi was elected to serve a further year as a South East area representative on the executive.
