Huntingdon Woman’s Club s learn about athlete Lottie Dod.

The Huntingdon Woman’s Club met on February 16, 2022 on a beautiful spring like day that fools all into thinking spring is here. Mrs. Tommy Cole served as hostess to the nine women present.  Mrs. Cole decorated the room like a spring day with green tablecloths, signifying the beautiful greens of a tennis or golf course. The center piece was a large bouquet of yellow roses, daisies, and miniature green mums in a wicker basket. She also placed a tennis racquet and tennis balls randomly on the tables with the head table having a golf club and golf balls. Mrs. Cole welcomed everyone with an inspirational reading followed with prayer. The ladies then enjoyed a country buffet.

President, Mrs. Gus Radford opened the business meeting. The roll was called and the minutes of February 2, 2022 were read and approved. Treasurer, Mrs. Doug Pruitt gave the treasurer report. Mrs. Radford called on the nomination committee to report on the selection of Vice President for the 2022–2023 year. Ms. Pat Raworth reported that Ms. Charlotte Horn is the nominee.  Ms. Horn excepted the position. 

Mrs. Radford turned the program over to Mrs. Cole who continued the study of Iconic Women Athletes with an English multi-sport athlete, Charlotte (Lottie) Dod.

Lottie Dod was born on September 24, 1871 in Bebington, Cheshire, the youngest of four children to Joseph and Margaret Dod. Ms. Dod came from a very wealthy family whose father made his fortune in the cotton trade. The Dod children received a private education by tutors and governesses. In her childhood Lottie played the piano, banjo and she was a member of the local choir. When she was nine years old, two tennis courts were built near the family’s estate, Edgeworth. Lawn tennis, invented in 1873, was highly fashionable for the wealthy in England, and all the Dod children started playing the game frequently. Dod entered her first tennis tournament, the 1883 Northern Championships in Manchester, at the age of eleven. At fifteen she was the youngest winner of the ladies’ singles 1887 Wimbledon Championships in which she wore a metal-and-whalebone corset which punctured her skin and caused her to bleed as she played. She won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Championship five times and remains the youngest ladies’ singles champion today.

In addition to tennis, Dod competed in many other sports, including golf, field hockey, and archery. She won the British Ladies’ Amateur Golf Championship, played twice for the England Women’s National Field Hockey team and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery. The Guinness Book of Records has named her as the most versatile female athlete of all time along with track and field athlete and fellow golfer Babe Zaharias.

Dod died in the Birchy Hill Nursing Home in Sway, Hampshire, unmarried, at the age of 88, passing away while listening to the Wimbledon radio broadcast in bed.

The next meeting will be held on March 2, 2022 with Mrs. Tony Tucker sharing on the athlete wrestler, Ronda Rousey.

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