Former England and Netherlands international Judy Williams passed away on 16 August aged 80 in the Netherlands, where she had lived for a number of years.

She was a top player in England in the 1960s and early 1970s, winning the National Championships in 1969 and playing for England in the World Championships in 1963, 1967 and 1969.

Judy started playing table tennis seriously in 1957 during the Easter holidays when she won a Hertfordshire County Junior scholarship for a junior coaching course at Lilleshall. In September of that year, she played her first county junior match against Suffolk and a week later played for Dagmar II in the Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield League Division 5.

Judy was coached by Geoff Harrower until 1961 when she became a senior, at which point she had played in every Herts Junior match since her debut, 24 in all, plus one second-team appearance and nine first-team appearances. In 1959 Judy was one of 7,500 entrants in the prestigious Eagle/Girl Championships of Great Britain. She won her regional final and went on to win the National final in the Senior Girls U15 event, a match which was televised for ITV’s “Seeing Sport”. In 1960 Judy won the News of the World Coach and Pupil trophy with Bryan Merrett and was Girl of the Year runner-up in 1960 and 1961.

Judy played for three counties – Hertfordshire, Sussex and Warwickshire – winning the Herts County Closed Women’s Singles in 1960 and 1961 as well as the Women’s Doubles in 1960 with Alma Taft and the Mixed Doubles with Brian Barr in 1961. After the family moved to Sussex, Judy won the Sussex County Championships Women’s Singles an impressive nine times, the Women’s Doubles five times and the Mixed Doubles four times including with her younger brother Peter who also became an England international. Judy’s achievements in Sussex led to her being granted the honour of becoming a Vice-President of the county.

Judy attended St Albans Grammar School, where after gaining good results in her A-Levels went to Birmingham University to study languages, hence her stint playing for Warwickshire. Sport was, however, not her only forte as she was an exhibitionist at Guildhall School of Music where she was a “Carroll Levis Junior Discovery” for verse speaking in 1959.

Judy’s junior international debut came in January 1960 when she played six matches on tour with Mary Shannon (Wright) in Germany, with the pair winning all their matches. At senior level Judy played against teams from Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Scotland and Yugoslavia as well as in World Championships in 1963 and 1967 in individual events and 1969 in Munich in the team event where England finished ninth.

Her senior debut took place in the Quadrangular tournament in 1967 where Judy won all her singles and doubles matches playing alongside Mary Wright, Chester Barnes, Ian Harrison and Connie Warren. Judy also played in the European Championships in Moscow in 1970 as a private entrant with Shelagh Hession.

Judy played in numerous English Open Championships between 1959 and 1971, with her best results achieved at junior level, winning the Junior Girls Doubles in 1961 with Mary Shannon having the year previously won a silver medal in the same event with Hilde Brautigan.

The pinnacle of Judy’s achievements in England was winning the English Closed (National Championships) in 1969. It was a long and hard route to the title. Facing fellow international Maureen Heppell in the quarter-final, a match which lasted over an hour, and one point in the fifth lasted five minutes. Eventually, expedite was reached at 11-7 in the fifth. Victory in this match went to Judy 16, -13, -16, 12, 14.

Her next opponent was Pauline Piddock, another England international, and this too went to five with the final score in Judy’s favour 15, -12, 14, -19, 18. The final was another five game match, which lasted nearly an hour, against Jill Shirley (Hammersley/Parker) with Judy winning -14, 9, -9, 12, 15. The resulting win gained Judy a place in the England team at the Munich World Championships.

Judy was a five times semi-finalist in the Women’s Singles at the English Closed, was runner-up three times with Shelagh Hession in the Women’s Doubles and three times semi-finalist. In the Mixed Doubles she also reached the semi-finals in 1972 with Sussex’s Sam Ogundipe.

Playing for the Central London League in the early 1970s, Judy was a four times winner of the J M Rose Bowl, partnered at various times by Karenza Mathews, Diane Simpson (Court/Pearce) and Shelagh Hession. Judy was a regular on the Open circuit around the British Isles and won many titles in junior and senior events, singles and doubles with victories coming at the Scotland and Welsh Opens as well as from Bournemouth to Cheshire, Essex and Kent to Lancashire and Teesside.

Judy moved to the Netherlands in the mid-1970s to work as a translator for Shell and remained in that country. She continued playing and won medals at their National Championships as well as at the Netherlands Top 10, playing on 15 occasions.

When she became a veteran, Judy played for several seasons in the Veterans British League for Olton & Warwickshire, Dagenham Ladies and Colebridge BC, becoming a runner-up on four occasions in the Ladies Premier Division.

She also took part in several World and European Veteran Championships. In Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1988 Judy was runner-up in the Over-40 Women’s Singles category and the Over-40 Women’s Doubles at the World Veteran Championships and in the European Veteran Championships took home a bronze medal in the Over-50 Women’s Singles in 2001 in Aarhus, Denmark.

Suffering from hip problems which resulted in two hip replacements, Judy was out of action for some time, but until a few years ago was still playing and coaching at her club Amsterdam ‘78.

Jan Johns, TTE Vice-President and former team member and VETTS Chairman: said: “I didn’t know Judy before I became a veteran but had the pleasure of joining the Colebridge VBL Team which included Judy.   She was a lovely generous lady who was always supportive. 

“By this time in her life, she suffered with crippling hip problems which severely limited her movement, but she was such a clever player that this didn’t prevent her winning most of her matches. By this time, she was living in the Netherlands so we didn’t see Judy very often at the VETTS Masters, but had the pleasure of bumping into her at various World and European Veteran events.  

“Judy won silver in the O40s Singles and Doubles, at the 1988 World Championships in Zagreb. She also won a bronze medal in 50s Singles at the 2001 Europeans in Aarhus, in spite of her hip problems.”  

From Amsterdam ’78 Club where Judy was a long-time, indispensable member:

“As a player Judy was for many years part of first the English and later Dutch national team, with the highlight being her 1969 win at the English national championships. Later she played for our club for many years at the highest level, initially still under the name Delta Lloyd and later Amsterdam ’78. Until late in life she continued to play for many teams, with her last matches being played in the Spring of 2020.

“Judy dedicated herself for many years to our club, and also to table tennis in general. At Amsterdam ’78 she was also part of the Board for a long time, during which she was also involved in the move to the Schoolstraat in 1978. Fortunately, she was still able to witness the move to the Baarsjesweg, where she played her last matches. At our opening in January 2020, Judy ceremoniously unveiled her own portrait.

“Especially for the youth, Judy was invaluable for many years, devoting herself selflessly as a trainer, coach, tournament organiser, bartender and even chauffeur. She was present at the club almost every day and was happy to help everyone, making her the face of the club for many people. We will miss her.

“She touched many lives during her period at the club and we are forever grateful for all the things she has done during those years.”

From Ken and Karenza Mathews, TTE Vice-Presidents and former England Manager and England International respectively: “Judy was a very successful player on the tournament circuit during the 60s and early 70s. She was highly intelligent, employing her astute thinking in her table tennis play.

“She was a determined and very effective defensive player, her skill enabling her to win many tournament singles titles and to become the English National Table Tennis Champion in 1969. Her women’s doubles partner was often Shelagh Hession, also a defensive player – with whom she shared a flat at Putney. They were a redoubtable pair, winning a considerable number of doubles titles.

“Away from the table, Judy was always modest about her abilities. Whenever she lost a match, she would give a rueful smile and accept that her opponent had been too good for her; but you always had the impression that she would learn from her mistakes! Judy was a gifted linguist speaking several languages including Russian. Her career was with Shell working as a translator at the Shell Centre in London.

“We were sad when she moved away to Holland. She was always very friendly and good company. She was greatly missed when she moved to live abroad and we are very sorry to hear of her passing.”

From Brian and Mary Wright TTE Vice-President, both former England Internationals: “So sorry to hear of the passing of Judy. We were the same junior year and obviously played in the same tournaments. Judy and I (Brian) won the Mixed Doubles at Skegness in 1961.

“We met by chance in Oxford Street one lunchtime, got chatting, decided to enter the East of England and popped into a shop to buy the same colour shirts! Judy was a clever girl speaking Russian. A tough player to beat with her defensive game.”

Our condolences go to all Judy’s family and friends, especially her sister-in-law Linda Williams, nephews Simon Williams and Robert Williams and niece Clare Lambrinos. Judy’s funeral will take place on Friday, 23 August, in Amsterdam. The service will be streamed live at 1pm UK time. Please see details below for how to watch.

Website: https://pci-webcast.nl
Ceremony ID: 150295
Password: 3fh7pwmgvkhr

Any donations in Judy’s memory can be made to the British Heart Foundation.