Winnie Silverthorne

Winnie Silverthorne was runner-up in the British Junior Ladies Championship in 1939, and her older brother Dennis won the junior men’s title to make it a memorable family double. The War then interrupted Winnie’s skating career, and during the hostilities she served as a Wren with the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service), and part of her duties was as a scientific instrument inspector.

Having started skating with Dennis during the War, they uniquely twice won the British pairs title in 1946, after it was held in both May and December that year. Unfortunately, they could not defend their title in 1947, because Winnie fractured her leg in practice, just one week before the Championships. They won the pairs silver medal at the 1947 European Championships at Davos, however, and were fourth in the Worlds. The following year, at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics, they finished fifth, one place better than their performance at the Worlds that year. Shortly after the Olympics, the pair turned professional and took part in ice spectaculars, originally in their home-town Brighton, but then all over the United Kingdom and across Europe.

Winnie took up coaching before emigrating to Canada, where she continued coaching and was responsible for the success of Brian Pockar a three-time Canadian national champion (1978-80), 1980 Olympian, and 1982 World Championship bronze medallist.