We will ring in the New Year with a Janet Lynn Spectacular, where special guests Robin Cousins, Randy Gardner, JoJo Starbuck, Allison Manley, Doug Mattis, Frazer Ormondroyd, Allison Scott and more will share their favourite Janet Lynn programs. We will revisit many historic moments in Janet's career along the way. January will be Canadian Figure Skating History month. Topics will include The Minto Skating Club Fire, biographies of five Canadian skaters, coaches and officials whose stories will fascinate you to no end, a little known story from Kurt Browning's career, a four part series on skating right here in Halifax in conjunction with the 2016 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships... and a few surprises. In the months to follow, we will explore competitions, shows and tours past, biographies galore and many shocking 'did you know?' stories that will leave your jaw on the floor.
Speaking of jaw on the floor, mine is. I did all of this writing in advance for a reason. On December 1, I began devoting time each day to a mammoth task that I have been wanting to tackle for an extremely long time. I am finally writing a feature and could not be more excited! It is going to be a biography of actress, dancer and figure skater Belita Jepson-Turner. For those of you who aren't familiar with her story, don't go looking for the Skate Guard blog on her. There was one but honey, I had to take it down. It was really dated, really sparse and really no indication of the level of research I am putting into this project. I will keep you all posted periodically on how progress is going and I will also ask that if you or anyone you know knew Belita personally and would like to contribute to this feature, please get in touch. I would love to hear from you!
I hope you all enjoy the coming blogs. They will be posted in the usual schedule I have been following for some time - two to three a week. The sixth and final episode of Allison Manley and I's Axels In The Attic podcast series will be coming to you soon too, so stay tuned for that! As always, thank you all for reading and supporting the blog. I mean that. Without your interest and support, I would not be doing this.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.