Ozanne Patricia 'Tish'

[Leigh Trevail]

This obituary for Patricia ‘Tish’ Ozanne appeared in the Newmarket Journal during March 2009. I thought it good enough to include it on the Forum to start a thread on the lady, so here it is as it appeared in the paper……

Former rally driver dies, aged 85
Published Date: 05 March 2009
By Journal reporter

WELL-KNOWN international rally driver Patricia "Tish" Ozanne, of Newmarket, died on February 11, aged 85. Born in Guernsey in 1923 to Major General William and Dorothy Ozanne, she spent her childhood on the island. Aged 17, she was on the last evacuation boat to leave Guernsey before the island was occupied by the Germans for the duration of the war.

After Liberation in May 1945, she embarked alone on a two-year round-the-world voyage, ending up on a sheep station in New Zealand. During this time, she was challenged to a duel by a woman who was sufficiently upset at Tish's interest in her boyfriend. Fancying herself with a .22, Tish agreed to firearms at dawn. Fortunately, the hefty brute was too inebriated to pitch up the following morning so Tish triumphed by default.

On her return to England, she lived in Wroxham and then with her father in his retirement at Barton Mills. However, life in rural Suffolk was not overly exciting and fate took a hand when Tish stumbled upon a motoring magazine, left in her father's house, advertising the "The Little Rally". Thinking this "rally thing" could possibly be entertaining, she submitted her entry. Little did she realise where this decision would lead.

Driving tests, organised by the East Anglian Motor Club, treasure hunts and local night rallies were preparation for the start of a 15-year career as an accomplished driver in international rallying, competing in many major events from 1953 to 1973. Tish, who had never taken a driving test, drove a variety of cars, including a Sunbeam Talbot 90, Riley 1.5, Jaguar XK150, Ford Cortina, Zephyr and, her favourite, the Mini.

As a co-driver, she was third in class in the 1958 Tulip Rally and similarly in the 1959 and 1960 Alpine events. As a driver, she was runner up for the women's award at the Tulip Rally in 1959. In 1959, when the Belgian Automobile Club declared that a standard Hillman Minx would be unable to withstand 15,000 miles of Belgian paved roads, Tish joined four other women in driving non-stop for 21 days to cover the distance.

BMC entered her in a works Mini for the 1960 season – the highlight being a second in class finish on the Geneva Rally – before Tish bought one of the works cars and was a formidable private entrant for the rest of her career. She won the women's prize on the Clacton Rally in 1960 and the 1961 London Rally with an 850 Mini.

On the 1962 Monte Carlo Rally, with Margaret Mackenzie (later Lowrey) as co-driver, she was the highest-placed competitor to start from Warsaw, receiving a trophy from Princess Grace in Monaco.

Her last Monte Carlo Rally was in a Mini in 1970 – the same year she competed in the World Cup Rally. Organised by the Daily Mirror, it started in Wembley Stadium and travelled through Europe and South America, 16,000 miles to the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. She did this in her faithful Austin Maxi, prepared for her by Marshall of Cambridge.

Tish, with Pat Wright, won the women's award on the 1970 Sherry Rally in Spain. Her last competition was in a Mini Cooper S on the 1973 Circuit of Donegal.

Having taken part in almost all the major international rallies over a period of 15 years, Tish started to enjoy some of her other passions, such as flower painting, the piano, ornithology and horticulture. An expert maker of lampshades and soft furnishings, she established homes in Swaffham Prior, Snailwell, Brinkley and finally, Newmarket. She went on to run a successful bed and breakfast business.

She leaves a half-sister, many nephews and nieces, and nine god-children.

A memorial service was held at St Mary's Church, Newton Valence, Hampshire, where Tish had moved to be near her family, on February 17. It was attended by many family and friends, including some from the world of rallying.
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Many thanks to the Newmarket Journal for allowing the copying of this obituary.
　

[Salsin]

Clearly a lady of many talents, this pic. (taken by me) is thought to be of Tish sitting on (or was she actually driving it?) a tractor at a sprint meeting at Debach airfield in Suffolk sometime in the late 1950s.
Mike Dodman