The over-60s skaters chasing every UK ice rink

A group of ice skaters aged 60 to 78 - who all took up the sport later in life - have set themselves the challenge of skating on every ice rink in the UK.

Girls on Tour comprises of Deena Burgess, Delya Cowell, Sue Holloway, Anne Diamond, Janet Nooney and Rose Strachan, and they have visited 23 ice rinks, with 28 to go.

They say it has helped them break out of isolation and form friendships later. Between visits to the different UK rinks, they still meet every Thursday for their class at Slough Ice Rink in Berkshire.

Diamond, 73, from Bracknell, says she joined the British Ice Skating "learn to skate programme" when she was 50 as part of her birthday bucket list and was "completely captivated".

The group of friends, who all met through skating, decided to take on the touring challenge over a coffee in 2023.

"It's such a sociable thing to do, and you just make friends so easily at the rinks," Diamond says.

Gary Peed, instructor at Slough Ice Rink, describes the group's achievement as inspiring.

But he also says anyone considering skating later in life should take it slowly and join a class.

"If you start at 50 or 60... it's a journey of learning," he explains.

"It is a difficult sport, but if you take your time you can get to do what these ladies have achieved."

Nooney, 66, also from Bracknell, started skating when she was 49.

She once sprained her wrist, but says the "nice thing about it is you just do what you are able to do".

She adds: "It's just about being brave. It's also the inner child in you - things you wish you had done as a kid, and you didn't get a chance."

Like the other women in the group, Cowell, 78, from Swindon, Wiltshire, proudly wears her tour uniform as she glides across the ice.

She says there is a "friendly" response from locals whenever they visit new rinks, where they get asked about their uniform and where they have come from.

Strachan, 60, from Basingstoke, Hampshire, recently dislocated her shoulder after a fall on the ice but is itching to get back to it.

She says: "As well as the pleasure of ice skating, it is brilliant being with a group of people where we are all from different backgrounds."

Girls on Tour's next stop is Milton Keynes on 10 August.