Judge's exhibition shines light on roller skating

A national roller skating judge and photographer, who has captured the lives of seven artistic skaters over 10 years, hopes her exhibition can shine a spotlight on the sport - and wishes that one day it will be in the Olympics.

Debby Besford grew up in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which has a strong roller skating heritage, and travelled all over the country to compete.

While flicking through photo albums on a visit to her parents and reminiscing over her skating days, she decided it would be "fantastic" to do an exhibition about young skaters from the town's Retro Skating Academy.

She said it was "amazing" to see how skating had shaped their lives during the decade.

Besford said roller skating had been "very, very important for many, many years" to Great Yarmouth, with the town producing a number of champions.

She said the Victorian Winter Gardens on the seafront, which used to house a prominent rink and is undergoing restoration, was "a place that was like my creative space and my safe space as well, and to have another family of skaters and parents to support you".

Over the years she has gained various items of memorabilia, which she is also featuring in her exhibition called The Art of Roller Skating, based at the town's Time and Tide Museum until April.

Artistic roller skating is not yet recognised as an Olympic sport, which Besford said she wanted to put under the spotlight in her exhibition.

GB Skate Artistic, Britain's governing body, said not being an Olympic sport meant it struggled to gain funding, adding that it believed every nation was striving to see it one day get accepted.

Skate Norfolk runs sessions for children and adults across the county and said roller skating was much more popular than it was 10 years ago.

"We are busy, we just do not have enough volunteers to run more sessions," said a spokesperson.

Speaking about her photography, Besford said she wanted to remove the skaters from the intensity of the rink and portray them in everyday life in their bedrooms, alongside their array of medals and trophies.

She has seen them all grow from young teenagers into adulthood.

"They're all doing incredibly well, with going to university, having careers," she said.

"Their connection with the sport has very much influenced in the way that they think, and the way they believe in themselves as young adults now."

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