DEATH OF LIZ POOK, TWICE BRITISH CHAMPION

Liz and Tony Pook with their twin grandchildren

Liz Pook who, as Elizabeth Chadwick, won the British women's open amateur championship in 1966 and 1967, has died at her home in the south of England.

She was born in Inverness in 1943 when her father was training with Sunderland Flying Boats at Invergordon.

After World War II, the family settled in Cheshire and her golfing career blossomed in the 1960s.
She first came to the fore on the national front when she reached the final of the English women's amateur championship at Liphook in 1963. She was beaten in the final by Angela Bonallack.
Liz played for GB and I in the 1966 Curtis Cup match at Hot Springs, West Virginia, as well as the Vagliano Trophy matches against the Continent of Europe in 1963 and 1967.

She was also a member of the GB and I team in the 1967 Commonwealth Tournament.

Liz, who had earlier beaten the legendary French player Catherine Lacoste, beat Vivien Saunders in the 1966 British women's open amateur championship final at Ganton and became one of the few players to win the British title two years in a row when she beat Mary Everard in the 1967 final at Harlech.
Liz retired from the big-time amateur golf scene after that to have a family - a son and a daughter - and was on the verge of making a comeback as a golf coach, perhaps as a professional, when her life changed forever in the mid-1980s.

She was left paralysed from the waist down after a back operation for a slipped disc, an injury received playing tennis, went badly wrong in 1986. 
From a wheelchair, Liz led as active a life as possible and had been planning to attend the Curtis Cup match at Nairn last June when she was also going to visit her birthplace in Inverness - but, unfortunately, the plans did not come off. 

Here is the death notice, her husband Tony inserted in the Daily Telegraph

POOK - Elizabeth Mary – nee Chadwick

After fighting paraplegia in an inspirational way for 25 years and recently feeling unwell, died suddenly at home.

Our beloved Liz leaves an enormous gap in the lives of her family and many friends.

No flowers, donations please to the Spinal Injuries Association, 2 Trueman Place, Oldbrook, Milton Keynes, MK6 2HH

There will be a private family cremation, followed by a service of Thanksgiving ( Liz’s last round ) 20^th December at 1.30pm All Saints’ Church, Church Lane, Scholar Green, Cheshire ST7 3SX www.oddrodeparish.org