On course to follow in father's footsteps

A journalist from Finland is retracing the footsteps of his Black Country father, after finding his trophies from a local golf club dating back more than 70 years.

Denis Woodward was born in West Bromwich in 1910 and spent his youth in the town, where he won captain's prizes at Dartmouth Golf Club in 1933, 1935 and 1939.

Now John Woodward, aged 49, wants to return to the the Black Country with his son Samuel, 21, to celebrate his 50th birthday by playing a round at his father's old club.

The visit will mark 70 years since Denis won the final trophy. He said: "About five months ago I was cleaning at my mother's apartment and for the first time took a better look at some trophies in her showcase.

"It turned out that there were three trophies from the 1930s from Dartmouth Golf Club.

"I went to the Internet and found the club was still situated in West Bromwich.

"Since my father died at the age of 49, I got the idea that on my 50th birthday, I would play my father's championship course with my son, to keep the the story alive."

Denis served as a navy commander during the Second World War and among photographs from the time is one of a craft he commanded sinking after being torpedoed by a Nazi submarine.

John said that the circumstances in which that happened and what happened to his father after the sinking was a mystery. After the war he got a job at pharmaceutical company May & Baker.

It was on one of many business trips to Finland where he met his wife Eila. They got married and lived in the US for three years where John and his older brother Charles were born.

He said: "My mother and father got married in the United States in 1956, but he died of cancer in 1959 when I was only six months old.

"My mother decided to move back to Finland and I've lived here ever since. My father Denis played golf with a handicap of three and taught the game to my mother Eila, who joined Helsinki Golf Club at a time when practically no-one played golf here.

"Now 88, she has won three Finnish senior championships."

The father-of-three has inherited his parents' love of golf. He joined Helsinki Golf Club club in 1969 and now two of his sons also play.

John, who still has British citizenship, is now the picture editor of the internet operation at Helsingin Sanomat, the biggest newspaper in Finland and Scandinavia.

He celebrates his 50th birthday on May 30 when he hopes to take part in a competition at Dartmouth Golf Club in Vale Street.

Cyril Wade, the secretary of Dartmouth Golf Club said: "I was contacted by John over the internet after he discovered the trophies, and we will be delighted to have him here to play later this month."

* If any readers could shed light on what happened after Denis Woodward's craft sank during the war please get in touch with our reporters on (01902) 319550, or e-mail sandwell@expressandstar.co.uk

Report by Sally Walmsley