A REMARKABLE piece of history has been donated to Duff House Royal Golf Club - the beautiful silver bowl won by the club's inaugural ladies' champion.

Mrs Ethyl Mary Watt-Walker won the trophy in 1910, the year the Banff club was founded.

Now, her daughter, 94-year-old Erica Smith, from Banff, who is still a social member at Duff House, has presented the club with the silver bowl.

Little more is known about the trophy, but club manager James Cameron said: "We were thrilled to receive it - it represents an important part of the club's history.

"Given the value of the trophy and obvious emotional connection to her family, this is an extraordinary gesture by Mrs Smith.

"The club are extremely grateful, and arr- angements will be made to ensure the trophy is presented in the most appropriate manner in the clubhouse.

"It is a beautiful bowl, and one you would have expected to have been competed for annually.

"Perhaps, Mrs Watt-Walker was allowed to keep it because she was the inaugural champion."

Mrs Watt-Walker was married to Hector McColl Robertson, and her brother, William Watt-Walker was club captain from 1923-25 and assisted Dr Alister McKenzie during the re-design of the course in 1923-24.

Dr McKenzie is renowned for his work as a golf course architect, having charted the Old Course at St Andrews and designed the famous Augusta National Course, home to the US Masters, among many others.

Dr McKenzie also developed the use of camouflage during his wartime service in the Second Boer War and the First World War.