The AGW mourns the passing of dear friend and colleague, Peter Haslam. Peter was born on 28th December, 1933 and passed away on 27th March, 2023, aged 89 years. A private funeral service took place for Peter on 24th April, 2023
News of Peter’s passing with an email from daughter Sarah Wednesday, 5th April, 2023 and a follow-up email on 17th April, 2023
Dear Sirs,
I write to inform you of the death of my Father, Peter Haslam. Peter was a member of the AGW for many years as Editor of Golf World from 1979 until the late 1980’s.
Peter passed away peacefully in March this year after suffering a stroke.
Yours faithfully
Sarah Haslam
17th April, 2023
Dear Bernie,
Sorry for the delay in responding, there are so many things to sort out during these difficult times. Please find below a brief description of Peter’s varied career.
Peter started out his media career working for the Rank Organisation in London before returning to Worcestershire to become a reporter on the Birmingham Post and Evening Mail. Following this he became Editor of the Kidderminster Times for a number of years before taking on the post of Editor of Golf World magazine in September 1979. Peter remained Editor until circa 1987 when he relinquished this post to set up Golf World Enterprises which ran a number of national competitions such as Teachers Scramble, Pringle Champion of Champions and DHL Most Improved Golfer, together with magazine competitions such as the Hole in One Club.
Peter left the employment of Golf World in 1997 and continued to write for a national snooker magazine before retiring in 1998 and moving out to rural Herefordshire in 2000. Sadly Peter suffered a stroke and sadly passed away on 27th March 2023.
I hope this is helpful Bernie, please contact me if you require any further information.
Regards
Sarah
MEMBER TRIBUTES TO PETER HASLAM
Jeremy Chapman
Oh, gosh – not another one! So sorry to hear about Peter. We and our respective wives had a lot of fun together on a golfing holiday and he was my first editor on Golf World. He asked me to write a monthly betting column for the mag which I did for a number of years. He liked a bet himself and was a great enthusiast about life in general. Always upbeat and never a cross word … the sort of editor every contributor hopes to have.
Peter was so proud of his daughter Sarah when she turned pro on the new ladies circuit. Sadly she didn’t achieve as much as she would have liked to in that sphere but she gave it a good try.
It’s donkey’s years since we saw each other but he was someone you never forget.
Bernie McGuire
I did not have the pleasure of meeting Peter however as Secretary of the Association I wanted to share a ‘thank you’ note the AGW Treasurer Peter Higgs and myself received from Peter at Christmas last year, and following his receipt of one of the famed AGW Christmas hampers.
It sums-up how much it meant to Peter in being a member of the Association.
“Once again, Christmas has been enhanced by the gift of festive goodies from the members of the AGW. I am again struck by the thoughtfulness of my former colleagues. It is so nice to be and to feel remembered. Will you please pass on my thanks and my good wishes to the officers and members. My health is failing to some extent but at the age of 88 I have known for a long time that the onset of age does not come alone. But I am still here. Best wishes to all, Peter Haslam”
Patricia Davies
No matter how hard I try, does this blog get done and dusted before Thursday evening or, more usually, Friday morning early hours, the sort of time we used to stagger home in our younger days? Does it buggery.
I’ve known for ages that the Spurs v Man Utd game was at the supremely inconvenient time of 2015 on a Thursday – it’s also Draw Night at the golf club, so I’m praying I don’t win; a sum that would pay for my season ticket, more or less. Despite our (their) indefensible defensive debacle at Newcastle on Sunday, I drove to Milton Keynes, squeezed into the one remaining parking space (the place’ll be empty by the time I get back) and am writing this as our Arsenal-supporting driver (not a happy Gunner but a lot happier than the three Tottenham tragics who got on his minibus at MK) ploughs southwards through the rain.
We usually have a proper coach (unlike Spurs – cheap crack, come on Ryan) but there are only eleven of us (wonder if we could get a game?) on the list tonight. Four got on at Bedford, two at Shefford and two at Hitchin. Was it Robert Louis Stevenson who said, “Tis better to travel hopefully than arrive?”
Ah well, United aren’t really that much better than we are (famous last words) though they have won a trophy already this season, are in the FA Cup final and do have a man in charge now who seems to have a plan and has a suitably scary death stare. Everything points to another close contest…*
If you’re not an eejit with a Grand Canyon-sized streak of optimism and resilience, don’t support a football team.
Talk of deadlines and death stares is probably not the most tasteful lead in to tributes to three friends who have died recently but two were journalists, members of the AGW and the third, an artist and Manchester United fan, also had a way with words; they were all well into their 80s, so not much would surprise or shock them.
I’ll start with Peter Haslam to whom I’ll be forever grateful for giving me my start at Golf World, as the editorial assistant. There were only four of us in the editorial department – Peter, the editor, not long arrived from the Kidderminster Times; Neil Elsey, the deputy editor, who knew a lot more about golf and the magazine business than Peter did and was to die far too young; and Dave Oswald, the art editor, a talented, Chelsea-supporting Scot with whom I shared an office and from whom I learned language that still gets me into trouble 40-odd years later. [NB Francesca Elsey, please DO get in touch with Dave, who knew your Dad as well as anybody.]
The office was in Bermondsey, so I stayed in St Margaret’s (between Richmond and Twickenham) with my cousin and her husband, the visitor who arrived for two weeks and stayed two years! Peter revelled in the job, relishing the golf, the players and particularly the travelling. As I remember, he wasn’t an always-in-the-office editor, he ruled with a light touch. Hawaii was one of his favourite trips and he made friends and contacts wherever he went.
Whatever the reason, Peter didn’t bat an eyelash let alone an eye when I, also very new, suggested that I should cover the World Amateur Team Championships in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Maureen was on the GB and I Espirito Santo team, with Mary McKenna and Belle Robertson, though Mc had back trouble and had to be subbed by Jane Connachan. Maire O’Donnell, of Murvagh, was the captain and I slept on the sofa bed in the team’s apartment.
I also stayed on for the Eisenhower Trophy, staying in Pine Needles Lodge and Country Club courtesy of Peggy Kirk Bell, a friend of her fellow legend Maureen Garrett, one of GB and I’s great cheerleaders. I met Dai that second week, so Peter has a lot to answer for and I can’t thank him enough.
John Ingham was on Maureen’s and my list of people to chat to for the blog but sadly we never made it down to Wimbledon to be entertained and enthralled for hours by his tales, tall and otherwise. I put him on a par with the likes of Mark Wilson, Michael Williams, Mike McDonnell, Peter Dobereiner and Renton Laidlaw, to name just a few, old-school newspapermen who brought golf to life and could spin a yarn with the best of them.
John was press officer all over Asia and Africa and had a wonderful story about employing a local witch doctor to make sure that the monsoon, or whatever, held off long enough for the tournament to go ahead as planned. Sorry to be so vague on the details but it was a bit of a miracle and the event got acres of coverage back home. It was hard to stop smiling when John was in full flow.
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