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A
History of Ice-skating.
As we glide freely over the Ice surface in our purpose made
boots with gleaming blades, gracefully executing moves we’ve
learnt, most of us have no idea how Ice-Skating came about
or how our ancestors many thousand years ago used animal
bones as blades.
In the middle of the last century, bones were discovered
that had been grinded down and polished to be used as blades
for skating.
There were two kinds of blades, the first was pierced by
several holes and were fastened on to the foot and leg with
straps, the other was not pierced and one must assume that
the skater stood on the blade and moved himself forward.
Skates can only be recognised from the moment when skates,
or at least the blades were made from metal and so sharpened
as to make it possible to strike off from an edge. The first
skate of this type was made in the fourteenth century.
They were first found amongst the Dutch, who introduced them
to great Britain and then to Scandinavia and Germany.
The first improvements in skates were made in Holland where
the people had to travel long distances on the canals by the
quickest method.
The first attempt to create a real ice rink by artificial
means was back in 1812.
Many more attempts were made, using chemicals such as
ammonia gas, carbonic acid, and ether. In 1842 an attempt
was made in a basement cellar in Baker Street, London.
This and all other attempts were failures until a professor
who had developed and patented a refrigeration system came
along. The professor took a small room in a side street of
the Kings road, Chelsea, and installed his "rink". Although
you were unable to actually skate on his rink it did
generate a lot of attention. The Manchester Rushoim Ice rink
was actually the first rink you could skate on. It was
developed using the professors process and was opened in
1876. The rink lasted for 12 months and was supported by
skaters, but as the environment was so damp and cold and the
surface was uneven, it was an extremely uncomfortable place
to be, consequently it had to be closed down.
Another rink was constructed at Southport, not far from
Liverpool in 1877, it was 164 by 64 feet and was opened on
the 10th January 1879, thus coinciding with the foundation
of the National Ice skating Association. (NISA) which
remains to be the governing body of ice skating in the UK
today and is the training provider of all coaches in
Britain.
In 1889 after ten years of struggling and making a financial
loss it was eventually closed down.
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