A LEADING female golfer from York has died, aged 80.

June Tait, of Copmanthorpe, was a passionate golfer who was well-known within the golfing community, said her daughter Louise Simpson.

“Mum’s golfing career started in 1976 at Pike Hills Golf Club, from which she lived just a stone’s throw away in Copmanthorpe,” she said.

“She was lady vice captain in 1977and lady captain in 1978, and was a chair of the ladies committee and president of the East Yorkshire ladies winter alliance.

“Mum won the railway institute council cup in 1977, 1993 and 1997 and won the greensome trophy in 1980 and the coronation cup at Pikehills in 1979/81/83/94.”

She said her mother had also attended a golfing pro/am event in Trinidad and Tobago, where her late husband Peter Tait - who played football for York City as well as being a keen golfer - had played with stars Tony Jacklin and Brian Hugget.

Brian had also stayed at the family home when playing each year at the former Benson & Hedges Cup tournament at Fulford golf course, she said.

“Mum was a personal friend of The Press sports editor, the late Malcolm Huntington, and Garry Atkinson, the now retired photographer at The Press, who frequently reported on her achievements.”

She said June had left three daughters - herself, Mandy and Sally, grandchildren Emma, Tom and Joseph and three great grandchildren Spencer, Ava and Reilly, whom she loved dearly.

Mandy said her mother had been born in Clement Street, York, and attended Scarcroft School, and then worked as a shorthand typist at solicitors Warner, Ware and Knowles.

She said her mother’s uncle, Joseph Hardcastle, had been Lord Mayor of York, and her father Richard had come to the aid of a Canadian pilot, John Lowe, after his plane had crashed in the Nunthorpe area during the war.

However, he had lost a leg in an explosion during the successful rescue mission.