A team of golfers from West Heath won The Silver Tassie Trophy for the first time on Monday, 1 June, at The Berkshire Golf Club.

The Silver Tassie was founded in 1961 by Gerty Hubbard and West Heath has competed in the event for the last 33 years. Gerty wanted to create a golfing event for ladies, similar to The Halford Hewitt competition for men, founded in 1924, which involves pupils from the 64 schools that make up the Public Schools Golfing Society.

The Silver Tassie competition for former pupils from girl’s public schools, began at Sunningdale with a challenging 36-hole foursomes medal, the combined score form two teams winning the trophy.  The event moved briefly to St Georges Hill before finding its current home at The Berkshire.

The latest format is a two ball better ball handicap and scratch competition. Competing schools enter two pairs, and their combined scores are added together to find the champion school – both pairings need to play well to be in with a chance.

West Heath first entered a team in 1993 with Sarah Gracey (Cullen) as captain, and a team from the school has played every year since.

The original team comprised Sarah Gracey (Cullen), Diane Patterson (Lillingston), Ann Laughland (Young) and Elise Mackinlay (Houston).

Rosie Jenner (Laughland) later joined their ranks and often played with her mother Ann. More recently in the 1990s Jenny Newton (Newton) and Lucy Tomkins (Ableson) were recruited to play. The captaincy started with Sarah Gracey, passed onto Jenny Newton in 2013, and finally to Rosie Jenner in 2022.

There have been several years when one pairing scored brilliantly. Sarah and Elise won the best handicap in 1994 with Sarah and Diane doing the same a few years later.  Ann and Elise also posted the best gross score. However, both pairs need to score well on the day to claim the winner’s trophy.

Therefore, it was with huge delight and surprise that this year both West Heath pairings managed to come in with excellent scores to win both the scratch and handicap trophies.

West Heath’s Score: 91 Stableford points and 152 gross shots.

For a complete list and photographs of winners in this year’s competition CLICK HERE

West Heathens who have played in The Silver Tassie:

Sarah Gracey (Cullen 1952-58) – captain 1993-2013)

Elise Mackinley (Houston 1952-57)

Ann Laughland (Young 1948-54)

Diane Paterson (Lillingston 1953 – 58)

Jenny Newton (Newton 1961-68) –captain (2013 – 2022)

Lucy Tomkins (Ableson 1955-61),

Rosie Jenner (Laughland 1974 -80) – captain 2022-present day

Caroline Roberts (Scrutton) 1974-80)

Jo Proudlock (Brooks 1976-1980)

Katherine Wright (Gracey 1976 -1980)

Kitty Wallace (Baillie 1975 – 1980)