Silver Blades Ice Rink

**Mark R** · 05-24-2008

Originally Posted by ChrisO

I thought the ice hockey team were called the Trappers?

The Liverpool Leopards played in the Southern A League (Midland Section) and The Liverpool Trappers played in the Southern B League (Midland Section).

**surestart** · 06-28-2008

Originally Posted by QUIPPY

MIKE BARBER WAS HIS NAME

I know him like a brother, whoops, he is my brother

**surestart** · 06-28-2008

Originally Posted by lee timmins

the black lad who was a dj was mike barber he played in the bumble bee disco but im not sure if he played downstairs, ithink he did,anymore ice rink questions

,i spent a bit of time there. lee.

Yeah our Mike worked Tuesday evenings, Thursday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons downstairs. Works at Fazakerly hospital now, he hasnt djd since about 1976

**Jim Baxter** · 09-02-2008

Hi My name is Jim and I used to almost live in the Ice Rink about Mike Barber he was a very good friend of mine when I was a teenager he used to live in Bootle and if I remember rightly he had a girlfriend called Lynn back then, that was about 1974 75 and i thought he had a younger brother called Carl but i can't be sure it's such a long time ago, if anyone still knows Mike i'd love to get in touch with him I don't think i've seen him since about 30 years, he would probably remember me as Jimmy back then and he even met my mum n dad because they invited him over to Sunday lunch one time, i'm sure he would remember me if you tell him that. I'm Living in Amsterdam and have been for the last 10 years but I am moving back home at the end of this month after 30 years of globe trotting.
Cheers Jim

**surestart** · 10-12-2008

Originally Posted by Jim Baxter

Hi My name is Jim and I used to almost live in the Ice Rink about Mike Barber he was a very good friend of mine when I was a teenager he used to live in Bootle and if I remember rightly he had a girlfriend called Lynn back then, that was about 1974 75 and i thought he had a younger brother called Carl but i can't be sure it's such a long time ago, if anyone still knows Mike i'd love to get in touch with him I don't think i've seen him since about 30 years, he would probably remember me as Jimmy back then and he even met my mum n dad because they invited him over to Sunday lunch one time, i'm sure he would remember me if you tell him that. I'm Living in Amsterdam and have been for the last 10 years but I am moving back home at the end of this month after 30 years of globe trotting.
Cheers Jim

Carl was a friend he moved to Blackpool many years ago. Our Mike married Lynn, they had 2 boys Craig & Gareth then divorced. He married another Lynn many years later but she turned out to be a bit of a bad penny so they divorced too.

**dilligaf** · 11-13-2008

Originally Posted by gorgeous

OMG LINDY ,
Ask them if they remember Norman ,

Poor Les , that was sad .
Karen

Hi Karen.
My name is Mike and i have stumbled on this thread by accident , i was looking for information on the Silver blades and thats how i got to contacting you , i joind the forum in order to contact you and pick your brains, Karen... would you mind me asking you what did happen to Les? , i remember him very well as i used to work at the rink on saturday mornings , i used to work on the upkeep of the building which meant evrything from painting to plastering , les was a very careful guy with his money and i do remember how difficult it was to get him to pay me , it was a cash deal ( ?5.00) per day , if i did not ask him for it he would not freely give it. I also remember his two beautiful blond daughters , they were great figure skaters and good fun to be with. Agnes used to run the skate shop , she was a first class lady and i often wonder where she eneded up and how she is now. I also used to be there to watch the Leopards practice , on one occaision i witnessed an awfull accident where one player hit a slapshot across the rink and the puck left the ice and made full contact with the eye/cheeckbone of a player who was known as Rollo , the injury was sickening to see and the guy who hit the shot was getting terrible grief from everyone who was there. There also used to be some other people who i know, a couple of speed skaters who were very very well known for anitcs on ice , big Jimmy and little beady , jimmy used to catapult Beady skyward from a transfer... god knows how they come to learn that trick but it was cool to watch. Anther lad who was well known was called Brian Riley , he used to barrel jump about ten to fifteen people !!!! he never failed to clear them , anther member of the Riley family ( Carl ) used to drive the Zambonie to re-surface the ice.

As you can see i have some good memories of the place and of the great people who made it so memorable after all these years , but in all honesty its Les i remember the most as he was quite a good guy who kept the rink going all those years , i remember the time when the rink was facing closure and he wanted the counsil to take ot over... sadly it never happened and the rink got torn down , that for me was quite a sad thing to see as it happens too much to buildings these days and often is the case where the grounds are not developed for years , there are thousands of people who had a ball at the rink when it was in its heyday , i am just one of them.

Please can you tell me what you know of the Williams family today as its been about 28 years since i worked there.

Very best regards.

Mike.

**Ged** · 11-13-2008

Great memories Mike. Hope Karen looks in for you.

**Ronijayne** · 11-13-2008

I used to go there to see Freddie Star. I still have a photo of Freddie he gave me taken in one of those photo booths. He walked me to the Pier Head to get my bus on occasions after the Cavern!!!

**lee timmins** · 11-15-2008

Originally Posted by dilligaf

Hi Karen.
My name is Mike and i have stumbled on this thread by accident , i was looking for information on the Silver blades and thats how i got to contacting you , i joind the forum in order to contact you and pick your brains, Karen... would you mind me asking you what did happen to Les? , i remember him very well as i used to work at the rink on saturday mornings , i used to work on the upkeep of the building which meant evrything from painting to plastering , les was a very careful guy with his money and i do remember how difficult it was to get him to pay me , it was a cash deal ( ?5.00) per day , if i did not ask him for it he would not freely give it. I also remember his two beautiful blond daughters , they were great figure skaters and good fun to be with. Agnes used to run the skate shop , she was a first class lady and i often wonder where she eneded up and how she is now. I also used to be there to watch the Leopards practice , on one occaision i witnessed an awfull accident where one player hit a slapshot across the rink and the puck left the ice and made full contact with the eye/cheeckbone of a player who was known as Rollo , the injury was sickening to see and the guy who hit the shot was getting terrible grief from everyone who was there. There also used to be some other people who i know, a couple of speed skaters who were very very well known for anitcs on ice , big Jimmy and little beady , jimmy used to catapult Beady skyward from a transfer... god knows how they come to learn that trick but it was cool to watch. Anther lad who was well known was called Brian Riley , he used to barrel jump about ten to fifteen people !!!! he never failed to clear them , anther member of the Riley family ( Carl ) used to drive the Zambonie to re-surface the ice.

As you can see i have some good memories of the place and of the great people who made it so memorable after all these years , but in all honesty its Les i remember the most as he was quite a good guy who kept the rink going all those years , i remember the time when the rink was facing closure and he wanted the counsil to take ot over... sadly it never happened and the rink got torn down , that for me was quite a sad thing to see as it happens too much to buildings these days and often is the case where the grounds are not developed for years , there are thousands of people who had a ball at the rink when it was in its heyday , i am just one of them.

Please can you tell me what you know of the Williams family today as its been about 28 years since i worked there.

Very best regards.

Mike.

hi mike what did this les look like,what did he do ,just trying to remember,cheers lee

**Bill Harry** · 11-15-2008

Bob Wooler wrote a feature on the Silver blades ice rink for me for Mersey Beat when he worked there. They used to advertise in the paper regularly.
One of the residents bands was Lee Castle & the Barons.

**Ronijayne** · 11-15-2008

Mersey Beat! Memories flooding back. I used to read that with joy. I wish I had kept a few of them.

**gorgeous** · 11-15-2008

Hi Mike ,
God you've got a brilliant memory , i had forgotton quite a few of those names,
There was some suspicion surrounding Les's death , i think the final outcome sadly was suicide, but if you knew Les ( & reading your post you knew him ,

, )you too would probabally find that hard to believe, it was in the echo,
He had a shop as well as the ice rink & he was found there.

Agnes was a lovely lady , don't know how she is these days,
The Willams girls were Air hostess's.

Do you remember: Marie, little Les & John Marsh , ?

Good ole days hey ,

Love Karen

**george-g7not** · 11-19-2008

hi everyone im new here as you can tell ive been reading this thread and some names come to mind , i used to be at the icey almost evey night back in the 80"s the black dj's i remember were tommy and tony blaze , i just read what mike said and my god little beady i saw him about 8 years ago in the park lane area , as for big jimmy my wife still talks to his wife lorraine , i was given a free pass to get in as i had a couple of mates who worked there ie: big john strachen and john fayen {who also drove the zambonie} and john doyle who well i think he did as best he could haha so does that trigger any other names for anyone ?? who remebers big jimmy doing wheelies down prescott road ??? and the night the school car park on sheil road froze over and we climbed in and nearly knackerd our blades

**irishseashipping.com** · 11-19-2008

Interesting reading the reminiscences of the Silver Blades.

My father enjoyed ice skating and would take me there occasionally along with my mother in the mid to late 1960s.

He tried to get me interested and I had lessons there with a chap called Tony Hollis(?).

I remember the organ behind the glass screen and the upstair's cafe. Didn't they fry hamburgers on a hot plate?

Wasn't really the ice skating sort neither was my mother - transport was my hobby interest and besides one didn't fall onto horrible, cold ice! My father gave up after a while when he realised that neither my mother nor myself would never become interested!

**roccija** · 11-19-2008

"The Silver Blades" !, wasn't that the former "Palace Ice Rink" on Prescott Road ??. Brings back many memories !!. A few of us who worked at Jacob's in
1942 (aged 15) used to go there every Saturday afternoon and had a great time. We didn't have our own skates, so rented them for a very reasonable price, and looked forward to it. Just over a year later I was at sea in the MN,
and never did get back to the "Palace" !!, - ah well, happy times !!.

Bob F