Derek Holmes, a well-known member of Heworth Golf Club and a former Dringhouses football player, has died suddenly while on holiday in Holland. He was 69.

Mr Holmes was a prolific goal scorer for Dringhouses, who won a number of trophies in the 1950s, playing as an inside forward.

He was a member of Heworth for almost 50 years, latterly playing off a handicap of 18, although he was half a dozen shots lower at his best.

He had been due to partner club colleague Ian Bradshaw in the Cross Trophy last Sunday at Fulford, where the York Union of Golf Clubs' flag flew at half-mast as a tribute to him.

Heworth's substitute pair, Paul Preston and Howard Barrick, went on to win the event and dedicated their victory to Mr Holmes.

Mr Holmes won the Forster Cup at Heworth in 1974 and the Helmsley Cup in 1983. His best year came in 1984 when he won the Pulleyn Cup mixed foursomes with the late Sue Fairley, the Spring mixed foursomes with his wife Sheila and the Summer Trophy stroke-play competition.

He won the Summer Trophy again in 1989 and the Spring foursomes with Audrey Walford in 1990. Two years later he won the President's Prize, and last year he and his wife won the June Cup foursomes. He was club captain in 1992.

Mr Holmes, who had his own plastering business in York for many years leaves a widow, daughters Diane and Amanda, and son Ashley. The funeral service is at York Crematorium on Friday at 11.30am.

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