The Papers of Elizabeth and Judith Gorrie

A collection of papers predominantly reflecting the lacrosse playing career of Betty Gorrie and her daughter Judy and their wider involvement in the administration and coaching of lacrosse. Contains match programmes, photographs, scrapbooks, press cuttings, correspondence and ephemera.

Janet Elizabeth Gorrie (Betty)

Betty Gorrie was born on 18 March 1924 and educated at Wycombe Abbey School where she learnt to play lacrosse and cricket, amongst other sports, and at Dartford College of Physical Education, 1942-1945. She subsequently taught physical education in several schools and for a brief period at Dartford. Betty played lacrosse for the South territorial team from 1947 to the early 1960s, and for the Putney Ladies' Lacrosse Club and the Seagulls Ladies' Lacrosse Club in the 1950s and early-1960s respectively. She was first selected to play for England in 1947 and was a member of the England team for a number of seasons until 1960-61. Following the end of her playing career, Betty umpired some international games in the 1960s and was later involved as a selector for county, territorial and international teams at both the Senior and Junior level. Away from the lacrosse field, Betty served as President of the Southern Counties Women's Lacrosse Association from 1971 to [1989], and as President of the Sussex Women's Lacrosse Association.

Betty married George M. Gorrie in 1952. She died on 5 March 2001.

Judith A. Gorrie (Judy)

Judy Gorrie was born in 1953 and educated at St. Mary's School, Baldslow and at Bedford College of Physical Education, 1971-1974. She began her PE teaching career at Guildford High School and later Croham Hurst School. In the 1970s and 1980s Judy played lacrosse at club, county and territorial level including for Purley Ladies', Surrey and the South, and was selected to play for England in 1981 and again in 1982. Thereafter, Judy became manager for the Junior England team in the late 1970s followed by coach for the Junior Scotland team after moving to Scotland in 1984 to teach at St. Leonards School.

The papers were gifted to the University of Bedfordshire by Judy Gorrie in two separate accessions in 2015 and 2016 under Accession Nos. AWL2015/011 and AWL2016/002.

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 Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.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.