The Collection of Vivien Jones

This collection contains audio-visual material of lacrosse matches, lacrosse playing kit, lacrosse sticks and bags, and some memorabilia representing the playing and coaching career of Vivien Jones. It includes cassette tapes and DVDs of international matches and tournaments, and playing kit for club, territorial and international fixtures.

Vivien Jones was a lacrosse player of international renown. Her playing career spanned five decades, her international career lasted for more than 25 years. She continued to coach and select at school, territorial and international level until shortly before her death.

Born Vivien Webb on 21 June 1951 in Glasgow, she moved to London with her parents and three sisters and obtained a scholarship to Lady Eleanor Holles School where she learned to play lacrosse. As a mature student with a young family, Jones gained a degree in teaching at St Mary's College, Twickenham and subsequently taught Physical Education for 15 years at her former school as well as others. Later she trained cabin crews at British Airways and worked at Rank Hovis McDougall.

At club level, Jones played for Putney from 1970 to 1998 and latterly for Centaurs; at county level she played for Middlesex from 1976 to 1997, and represented the South in the annual All England territorial tournament between 1997 and 2003.

Jones's first game for Wales was in 1977. Between 1982 and 2001, she played for Wales in six World Cups, three as a player-coach. By the time she stood down from her international playing career, she had played 97 times for Wales, nine times for the Celts (Wales & Scotland) and twice for Great Britain – a total of 108 caps which is, according to Guinness World Records, the highest for women's lacrosse.

In the early 2000s, Jones was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died on 26 December 2010.

The collection was donated to the University of Bedfordshire by Sarah Jones on 13 March 2015 under Accession No. AWL2015/007.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from University of Bedfordshire Special Collections. Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.