25 Years as organiser of Aberdeenshire county girls' golf

Left to right: Stella Bruce (who invited Ethel to take the job in1989),  Ethel Farquharson (now retired) and Margaret Parkinson, current county captain. Former Scottish champion and past Curtis Cup player Joan Rennie is immediately behind Ethel in the Cal Carson Golf Agency 

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 Ethel Farquharson honoured at Deeside lunch

In 1989, Stella Bruce, then county captain, invited Ethel Farquharson to take over the organisation of the Aberdeenshire girls' golf competitions. 
Ethel, who would later become chairman of the Scottish Ladies County Golf Association, said "Yes" and  performed the role for the next 25 years!
The county held a lunch at Deeside Golf Club today to mark Ethel's long service and present her with gifts.

The special balloon she was given by the county is still in the Deeside clubhouse, sticking to the roof just inside the entrance to be precise! See picture:
Director of Golf Frank Coutts says he does not have a long enough ladder to get it down ... but he'll think of some way to reunite Ethel with her prize balloon!
 County captain Margaret Parkinson paid tribute to Mrs Farquharson's long service to girls' golf in the county in her post-lunch speech.
She also read out an E-mail from Ladies European Tour player and past Scottish women's amateur champion Laura Murray, who was not able to attend the lunch.
"Ethel's regular competitions at a variety of courses in the county played a big part in giving me the experience that enabled me to win the Scottish title and go on to become a Ladies European Tour player. I am very grateful for that," wrote Laura.  
Another of "Ethel's girls," Michele Thomson won the Scottish championship at Lossiemouth in 2008, the same year as she played for GB and I in the Curtis Cup match against the Americans over the Old Course, St Andrews.
Ethel, in her thank-you speech, highlighted the fact that Claire Hunter, one of her "original" girls back in 1989, won the New Zealand mixed foursomes championship with her husband earlier in the week.
"We had more than 200 girls play in the county competitions in my 25 years during which time we played at 34 different courses," said Mrs Farquharson.
Ethel has now retired from the post and Donna Pocock is following in her footsteps ... but perhaps not for 25 years!
+Ethel's daughter Elaine Farquharon-Black is an honorary member of Deeside Golf Club, a former Scottish girls and women's champion, a past Curtis Cup and Vagliano Trophy player - and captain of the GB and I team for the Curtis Cup match against the United States at Dun Laoghaire GC, near Dublin next June.