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Inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1988. John Frederick James Smith universally known as
“Icy,” was born in 1889, in Barnard Castle, County Durham the
thirteenth of fourteen children. Although he first went into the family metal
business, he soon decided that the end product was too enduring to
encourage many repeat orders and in the pre-refrigerator age, decided to
sell the public something that would not last as long – ice. As his business expanded he moved to Darlington,
where he entered public life and soon became Mayor. He next moved to
Durham where he bought Bishop’s Mill, installed a turbine to generate
electricity from a diverted river and turned the mill into an ice
factory. Before long he became in turn, County Councillor, City
Councillor, Alderman and eventually, Mayor of Durham. Towards the end of the 1930s, it became clear
that the development of modern refrigerators would soon put an end to
the business of selling large blocks of ice to the public. So “Icy”
Smith decided to go in for ice on an even bigger scale – and in 1939,
the idea for the Durham Ice Rink was born. However, with the outbreak of war his plans
received an early setback as all building work was ceased. Wit the ice
plant already installed, “Icy” Smith proved his resourcefulness by
having a huge marquee tent, the largest in Europe, erected to cover the
uncompleted building. Seven huge posts, set into the ice, supported the
giant structure but failed to inhibit the rinks use as members of the
Royal Canadian Air Force stationed in the north of England too every
opportunity to partake in their favourite sport. After the war a permanent roof was built onto the
rink, and urged on by his son John, a veteran referee of over 500
services games during the war, “Icy” Smith gave his full support to
the development of ice hockey in Durham. Unlike rink management
elsewhere around Britain, Smith insisted that his team should be based
on local players with only a sprinkling of Canadians. The question has
to pondered, where would British ice hockey be if only a few others had
followed his example? As a direct result of the pioneering spirit of
this one man, construction of further rinks in the area followed, in
Whitley Bay and then the Billingham Forum. J.F.J. “Icy” Smith died in 1965, but he would undoubtedly have been proud to see the number of teams playing ice hockey in Britain today. He would also have been proud of the achievements of ‘his’ teams, Durham Wasps, Whitley Warriors (though his original name for them was Whitley Bees) and the Cleveland Bombers, together with their various junior teams. Compiled with research, provided by
Martin C.Harris & Tony Boynton – April
1988. |
