The winner of each divisional championship competes each year at Blairgowrie for The Scroggie Cup. Since its inception in 1957 the west vets have secured victory on 15 occasions.
History of the VLGA and SVLGA
In 1921 Mabel Emily Stringer, who was a British golf enthusiast and sporting journalist invited friends who looked over 50 to form the Veteran Ladies Golf Association. In 1939 there was a match between the North and South of England. Result unknown.
The Scottish Ladies Veteran Golf Association was founded in 1950 by Miss Charlotte Lyon. Charlotte was an Honorary Life President of Aberdeen Ladies. In 1954 Scotland joined the VLGA, at a £3 charge.
In 1957 Mrs Miller-Stirling, was elected to the committee. Mrs Miller-Stirling was a Scot and her parents were distillery owners in Aberlour.
In 1957 the SVLGA asked for a match and at the AGM of 1959 it was agreed that a match would take place at Gleneagles.
That first match between North, South and Scotland took place in 1960. Mrs Miller-Stirling presented the salver.
In 1962 the Midlands joined and all four contested in Jamboree. There are no details of the format.
In 1968 the Jamboree was again played at Gleneagles at a cost of 5 guineas and 5 shillings, which included dinner, bed and breakfast and golf.
To the present day the Miller-Stirling Salver is fiercely contested by all four regions. In 2010 Mrs Toni Moffat, who was a great supporter of this event and travelled to all the venues up and down the country in her camper van, donated the Toni Moffat Quaich for the runner up.
We should therefore applaud the determination of these ladies which allows us to enjoy the annual jamboree, albeit at a lot more cost.
In 2023 the three divisions in England were well on their way to change their name from Veteran Ladies to Senior Women. The reasons given were that the word Veteran gave the wrong impression on how senior women were perceived in golfing circles. It was a name that was introduced in the 1950’s but it is now considered to be out of date with current thinking. It was discussed again at Blairgowrie on the 22nd September 2024 and it was agreed that the name change from SVLGA to SSWGA would go ahead from 1st October 2024. There are 8 divisions within Scotland each with their area name after the letters SSWGA. Highland, Northern, Midlands, East, West, Borders,Dumfries and Galloway.