The Welney Website
A brief history of skating in Welney
This article is based on extracts from the Cambridgeshire Genealogy website www.rootsweb.com/~engcam/index.htm (©1999 Martin Edwards); and "Fen Past– A virtual museum of the Cambridgeshire fen". The photo below of a cigarette card of C W Horn is copyright ©2006 Archant Regional Newspapers and reproduced by kind permission, all the others are ©2000-2006 The Welney Website Archives.
Organised ice skating in Britain started in the Fens, more specifically here in Welney. In Victorian times skating was not just a favourite winter leisure activity, it was also a huge spectator sport. In 1870 when the Championship of England was held, a crowd of some 6,000 watched Wiles of Welney beat Porter of Southery.
The first of the great Welney skaters is said to be Turkey Smart. His real first name was William, but he got his nickname from his style of skating. Turkey was the first man to adopt the position that all speed skaters use nowadays - bent over forwards to lower wind resistance. With his arms flapping behind him like wings (and with a rather beaky nose!) Smart was thought to look like a gobbling Norfolk turkey. When he started winning all the races his style was copied by the other skaters - but the nickname stuck.
From his first championship title in 1854 until late in the 1860s, Turkey's domination over speed skating was threatened by only one man, William See, and he too came from Welney (standing together on right, Turkey on the left). See's nickname was 'Gutta Percha' , from the tough rubber used to make boot soles and golf balls - 'Gutta Percha' See was as tough as old boots! Only after 15 years at the top did Turkey and Gutta Percha start to be defeated by younger skating champions from elsewhere.
But Welney wasn't out of the limelight for long, thanks to the next generation of the Smarts and the Sees. George Smart, eldest son of Turkey's cousin Charles, took the speed skating championship in 1878 and won nearly every race he entered for the next ten years. He was eventually beaten by his younger brother James Smart. And almost the only skater who ever beat James was his cousin George See, son of old Gutta Percha.
During the 1890’s Welney was the hub of English skating. The village church at Welney shows that there were many national champions, one of whom, James Smart, was professional world champion in 1895. This period was the Zenith of outdoor ice skating and from this Fen enthusiasm for the sport the National Skating Association (NSA) - now known as the National Ice Skating Association (NISA) - was formed in Cambridge in 1879 .
Welney has a dedicated Ice Skating Pub, The Lamb and Flag Inn where you can find photographs of past and present speed skating champions from the area. If it was not for the Fen Skaters of Welney and neighbouring hamlets and villages the NSA may have never been formed
For details of skating in Welney today, see Welney and District Skating Club or e-mail Adam Giles or phone him on 01354 610 483
another shot of C W Horn, the famous 1930s skater, from an old newspaper article.
