The Bill Morris Trophy

History

Captain William E Morris OBE MSc CEng FRAeS FIMechE FCIM RN joined the Royal Navy in January 1939. He trained at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Keyham. Subsequently he undertook postgraduate pilot training at the College of Aeronautics and was awarded his Wings in January 1950. Bill’s career took him through several appointments in engineering, helicopter and fast jet flying culminating in his appointment as Director of Air Armament and promotion to Captain. Bill retired from the Navy in 1971 and joined Westland Helicopters as General Product Manager. He retired from Westlands in 1986. During retirement, he was actively involved with the Sea Cadets and his dedication resulted in him being awarded the OBE in 2000. Bill was always a sportsman and learned to play golf in 1963 when serving in Singapore and achieved several ‘hole in ones’, the last one being in April 2016 at the age of 92.

Bill joined the society in 1965, was awarded Honorary membership in 1990 and died in 2017 at age 93. He was a keen competitor and a prolific winner of Aero trophies. He was delighted to be able to sponsor this trophy but, sadly, he died a month before he could present it at the inaugural meeting. It is awarded to the player who is ‘Over 70’ at the start of the year and who has the best stableford score in the Captain’s Claret Jug competition.

NB. The event was not played in 2021, due to the Covid pandemic, but has been incorrectly engraved for the two following years - Eddie Axten is shown as having won the trophy in 2021 and David Hobart in 2022. The table below shows the correct dates for the winners.