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YOUR LETTERS
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STAR LETTER
Ski Club Member Roger Haynes wrote to us recently to draw our attention to a matter close to his heart:
Being a black man and someone who has enjoyed skiing for 40 years, 20 of those with my family, I find it surprising that the engagement with a very large part of society has not been addressed. Talking with friends and colleagues I realise that their perception of skiing is as a very white upper/ middle class domain, which to some extent has put them off and they are frequently amazed by my constant enjoyment, stories and pictures of past holidays.
There is an overwhelming desire for non-white people to try the sport and I realize that it has changed somewhat from my first forays on to the slopes. I hope that our Club can be more proactive in engaging with them, as simply having pictures of people of colour in the magazine, enjoying themselves on the slopes, can help to grow our membership.
Kind regards,
Roger Haynes
Thank you so much for highlighting this point Roger. All of us at the Ski Club will strive to be more proactive in engaging skiers of all ethnicities going forward. Watch this space!
Calling all SCGB members aged 50 and over; I need your assistance!
Do you remember the skiing industry in the UK in the Eighties and Nineties? For us piste-bashing lovers, the season started with “Ski Survey” (as the SCGB magazine was then called) dropping through the letter box to whet our appetites for the season ahead.
How I fondly remember my trips to Calshot (Southern Ski Show), the NEC Birmingham (British Ski Show) and Manchester (Northern Ski Show). All fantastic shows in their own right and all supporting what was, for me at least, the Main Event - the Daily Mail Ski Show, alternating between Earls Court and Olympia in London.
Thousands gathered every year at this unofficial Mecca of skiing and it became a ritual. Meet at the Show, then have drinks and go out to dinner in the evening. There was so much to see and enjoy but the centre piece had to be the ski fantasia. The very best of freestyle skiing. The Canadian Air Force (no, not the aviators but rather the stream of world class aerialists) along with British and European ballet and aerial stars supported by BASI ski instructors plus counterparts from Soldeu (Andorra) and various Austrian and French resorts, to name but a few.
The performances were beautifully choreographed into 20-minute West End style shows.
Britain was at the forefront of World Freestyle skiing; Jilly Curry, Julia Snell, Mike Nemesvary, Mike Whealey, Richard Cobbing and Robin Wallace all appeared over the years. Comic light relief was never far away in those wonderful trampoline shows featuring John Beer and Mr Commentator himself, Peter Noyes Thomas, added class, wit and astounding ski related knowledge, to proceedings.
Such wonderful times, but where are all of the photos and videos of the shows? What of the stars themselves? Many have stayed in various ski related businesses. Remember the Dutch Freestyle superstar Michiel de Ruiter? Well, he runs Polar Europe, “the world’s fastest real snow supplier”.
What of the European on snow ski shows financially supported so admirably by Marlboro, Peter Stuyvesant, Swatch and Volvo amongst others? Ballet Skiing was of course “dropped” as a discipline but there does now seem to be a resurgence. Many February half-term ski shows in various resorts now include at least a nod to ballet, so which resort will be the first to organise a full-on “retro” ski show of old? The race is on….
Robin Martin