The Ladies’ Golf Union is pleased to nominate Mrs Diane Bailey MBE as President of the Union. The term of office of the current President, Mrs Brigid McCaw, expires at the Annual General Meeting in February 2015, and Diane will take up post at that meeting.
Diane was a top amateur player, who won the British Girls’ Championship in 1961 and was runner up in the Ladies British Amateur Championship that same year.
She represented England in the 1960s and ‘70s, and was capped for Great Britain & Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy match against the Continent of Europe, the World Team Championship (Espirito Santo Trophy) and twice in the Curtis Cup match against the United States.
These international team matches have always had a special place in Diane’s heart, and she followed up her playing career with a successful run as Captain of the Great Britain & Ireland team from 1983 to 1988.
Two wins over Europe in the Vagliano Trophy matches of 1983 and 1985, and a very close Curtis Cup match at Muirfield in 1984 which Great Britain & Ireland narrowly lost by one point, demonstrated Diane’s increasing special captaincy skills.
She was invited to lead the Curtis Cup team again in 1986 at Prairie Dunes in Kansas USA, and was proud to captain her players to the first ever victory on American soil for any Great Britain & Ireland team, male or female, amateur or professional. The magnitude of this win was recognised when Diane was awarded the Golf Writer’s Trophy in 1987.
Diane’s final captaincy was in 1988, where her team again won against the USA, this time at Royal St Georges’ in England, and that same year she was awarded an MBE for services to golf.
She continued to give back to the game that she loves at club and county level, and more recently she served as President of the English Ladies’ Golf Association in 2006 and 2007. She is a Vice President of her golf club Reigate Heath, while her contributions to the game have also seen her appointed an honorary member of that club, and of both Enville and Walton Heath.
Husband John and her children and grandchildren are delighted at Diane’s nomination as President of the Ladies’ Golf Union and offer their full support in her term of office.
Diane says “I am honoured and so delighted to have been invited to become President of the Ladies Golf Union.
Golf has always been such an important part of my life and to be given this great opportunity to represent and support women’s golf and the Ladies’ Golf Union is an enormous privilege. I will do my utmost to uphold the values and traditions of the game that we all love so much.
The Past Presidents of the LGU have always set such a good example and high standards and I know I have very hard acts to follow, but I look forward to the challenges, to renewing old acquaintances and to meeting many lady golfers at events throughout Great Britain & Ireland during my 2 years as President.
I look forward to working with the dedicated team at the Ladies’ Golf Union. Golf has given me so much pleasure and I can hardly believe I have been playing this great game for over 60 years. It’s been a wonderful journey and I very much look forward to continuing it as President of the Ladies Golf Union throughout the next two years.”
Ladies’ Golf Union www.lgu.org.