Obit - Adrian Bagott

Adrian Bagott (F 56-61).

Adrian’s daughter Pru has sent the following:

“Adrian Malcolm Alexander Baggot was born on 1^st November 1942 to parents Sandy and Rita in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He was the eldest and had two younger sisters Joey and Nikki.

Growing up in Halifax Adrian had a great childhood. His dad ran the family timber merchants that Adrian would eventually take over, and both his parents were very sporty and that rubbed off on Adrian big time. His sister Joey remembers that he was very competitive throughout their childhood, even over Monopoly!

Adrian took up golf at the age of 11, having lessons at West End Golf Club in Halifax with one of his best friends. He took to golf like a duck to water and a special highlight was meeting Dai Rees, a former Ryder Cup captain, who was there on a visit.

Adrian attended St David’s School in Huddersfield and then went onto St Bees School in Cumbria. It was during his time at St Bees that several lifelong loves were formed: golf, Cumbria, rugby and cricket. Adrian was made Head Boy in his final year at St Bees.

After St Bees he went to Cambridge to study economics. Safe to say he loved university life, especially Cambridge life, but his proudest achievement was to earn himself a ‘Blue’ for golf. This was something he was deservedly very proud of.

After university, Adrian headed off for what I suppose we would call a ‘gap year’, although this was working for family friends at the Mackintosh Toffee Company. He visited Germany where his role for the company was to sell toffee crisps and chocolate bars to Germans. He would travel throughout the villages in Germany and he took the time to learn the language and became fluent in German, something that never left him.

The family business was calling him and so after a year of fun, Adrian headed back to Halifax to work in the timber trade with his dad. Not that this work wasn’t fun, the company was a much-loved family business that was measured by its honest values. Adrian got on with everyone in the business, no matter what their position was, and to be fair that summed him up in life – always getting on with anyone he met.

Outside of work he maintained his love for sport especially golf, rugby, cricket, and squash. It was at the local squash club where he met his future wife Margaret.

Adrian was made President of the District Union of Golf Clubs for Halifax and Huddersfield and safe to say that also involved a lot of public speaking, at which he was a natural. Adrian was full of stories, always on hand to share these and to tell a joke or two. He was the one that laughed loudest at his jokes.

Outside of sport Adrian had another love – Dornoch. He instantly fell in love with the place (it probably helped that there was a world class golf club there) but it wasn’t just the golf, it was the scenery, the tranquillity and the people that he loved. That love never left him and he and Margaret and then when the girls came along, used to spend every annual summer holiday there. Portugal was a favourite destination too, where the family stayed at a friend’s villa that backed onto one of Portugal’s finest golf courses!

After Adrian retired at the age of 55 they moved to Dornoch, permanently filling their time of course with golf and with many social events and hosting dinner parties as well as enjoying the outdoors. Adrian loved nothing better than pottering in the garden and scouring the beaches around the Highlands for rocks and other gems!

Adrian was a key member of Dornoch Golf Club. He joined in 1977 and served on the various councils of management. He was Greens Convener twice and also captained the Senior Section. One thing he was known for throughout his life, no matter what sport or profession he was in, was that he was always very supportive of anyone, but particularly of any youngster embarking on their sport. He loved to teach others – although he was always teaching himself too.

Adrian even made it into a book by golf writer Lorne Rubenstein called ‘A Season in Dornoch, Golf and life in the Scottish Highlands’, while one of his other major achievements was, at the age of 57, cycling from Bilbao in Spain to Waterloo in Belgium as part of the Waterloo Anniversary. No mean feat, 975 miles in fifteen days.

Adrian was a great family man. This was the biggest love of his life. His soulmate was Margaret, with whom he shared such special memories; they had 48 years of happily married life together.

Adrian was diagnosed with cancer in May 2021 and his deterioration was rapid, although he did get home in July for a few months before he passed away.

When I asked the family to sum up Adrian, words such as joyful, larger than life, fun, life and soul of the party, charismatic, came up. Someone remarked in one of the sympathy cards that if they had fulfilled half the things that he has done in his life he would have done well. Adrian truly had a life well-lived; taken too early most definitely, but any regrets, most definitely not – to put it in cricket terms: he had a great innings!”

The following Appreciations of Adrian have also been received:

From Brian Morrison (FN 58-61).

“One of my abiding memories of Adrian Bagott was when we were at Cultybraggan Corps Camp in Perthshire early in July 1962.

We had been informed that there would be the odd afternoon rest day, so knowing there was a golf club at nearby Comrie and given it was a thirty minute walk, we decided to hire bikes, throw the clubs over our shoulders and off we would go for a round.

It just so happened that my father was staying at Gleneagles Hotel and he enquired if we fancied a round on the King’s Course followed by dinner; mentioning it to Adrian he accepted with alacrity! So we were picked up in some style from the camp and forty minutes later we were on the first tee. Those of us who knew Adrian all recognised his love of food and a glass or two of ale; dinner at Gleneagles did not disappoint, roast sirloin of beef and all the trimmings including his beloved Yorkshire pudding. He did it all justice, including seconds, so much so he was excused exercises next day!

Happy memories remain from our times at the Hewitt and Cyril Gray, and let us not forget our teenage golf at St Bees, our house and school competitions, where Adrian was as competitive as ever.

What fun we’ve all had with him.”

From Charlie Crummey (FS 67-72).

“My brother Andy and I attended Adrian’s funeral at a packed Dornoch Cathedral.

His daughter Pru delivered a lovely and amusing eulogy, Including: 'You know Dad was a tight-fisted Yorkshireman. Well we girls got our own back by buying the most expensive coffin we could find! He would have been furious! After all we had to bury a timber merchant in solid oak!'”

From Michael Coffey (SH 59-62).

“'Bagsy' was a proud Old St Beghian and he was a talented and even more a competitive sportsman: rugby, cricket, squash and always golf. Never a classic swinger of the club (Gladys was a close friend always near at hand) nor was he the most convincing of putters, but when he forgot about 'swing number 853' and was faced with a do or die shot or putt very few were his equal. He was above all a competitor. One I shall never forget was a long iron from the ridge in the middle of the 18th fairway to the heart of the green at Worplesdon in the Cyril Gray; it brought a whoop of delight from his long- time partner Howard Delany and the rest of us too.

No one who met him ever forgot him. If, when you were in some far flung place around the world golfing and the subject turned to Halifax, Old Boys golf, Yorkshire, Royal Dornoch or The Seniors Golfing Society everyone knew 'Bagsy'.”

Editor’s Note:

Adrian was Head of School, Editor of the Magazine, and Librarian in 1960-61; in the 1^st XV and 1^st XI 1960-61; Squash captain 1960-61; Golf VIII 1958-61; Badminton 1960-61.

Further Photographs of Adrian may be seen by clicking here