To the editor:
Back in the 1940s, growing up in Marblehead, we had a skating rink; it was on Bay View Avenue on Bobby’s Pond. Marblehead High School played hockey there, and it was home to the Marblehead Skating Club, which was an ice dancing club.
Every Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon throughout the winter, we would go there, and our parents would ice dance. Every couple of hours, they would stop to clear the ice and resurface it with their home-made zamboni, which was an old jeep with an old heating oil tank attached to the back filled with water.
After the ice was resurfaced, my uncle Bud would give all us kids skating lessons until the adults were ready to take to the ice again. There was a hut with a wood stove where we could go to stay warm, and there was always a fire going where we could toast marshmallows and get hot chocolate and hot dogs.
The club had many members but was pretty much run by my uncle Bud and Lars Anderson.
In 1947, Lars Anderson, his wife and a number of Marblehead businessmen (mostly members of the skating club), raised money to build the North Shore Sports Center on Boston Street in Lynn.
In 1948, Lars and Bud changed the name of the Marblehead Skating Club to the North Shore Skating Club which moved to The Sports Center when it opened on Jan. 23, 1949. There were an estimated 7,000 people there for the opening.
Weston Adams from Marblehead, owner of the Bruins Hockey team, gave the opening address; it was a big day for sure.
A year or two after the opening of the rink, the North Shore Skating Club became a USFSA member (United States Figure Skating Association) and changed from an ice dancing club to a figure skating club.
Shortly after opening the rink, Herb Pickering from Swampscott and Bud started the first Peewee hockey league. Bud also started, along with others, Marblehead’s youth hockey program, and then, his pride and joy, Bud started the all-girls hockey team.
He purchased an old, small school bus and drove his team of girls all over for them to play, and I know for a fact some of these girls on this first team are still playing hockey.
Bud and Lars were life-long best friends; in the 60s, they, along with many others, started the Think Rink Project. They so much wanted Marblehead to have a rink, but, as we all know, even though they managed to raise a fair amount of money, the rink never happened, and the funds were turned over to the recreation and park commission.
So, after Lars passed away, he left the town the money to build the rink of both his and Bud’s dream. Recently, I sent an email to the Recreation and Parks Commission asking them to reconsider two things.
One: not to move forward with an undersized rink. Fifteen more feet are needed to have a regulation size rink; 200 x 85, which is not that much more space. I believe a non-regulation sized rink would be regretted as it wouldn’t allow for any organized hockey games.
Two: the location for the rink should be moved from the proposed Reynolds Field to Bud Orne Playground.
Reynolds Playground would never have enough parking; it would be a nightmare for the neighborhood and for the recreation and park commission.
Bud Orne Playground has abutting vacant land on West Shore Drive and Evans Road.
When I was a kid, that land was farmed and is not wetlands. It would make great parking for the rink if built at the abutting Bud Orne Park.
Recently on Facebook, shared by the All Marblehead page, there was a picture of Bud lacing up his figure skates, and the comments from so many had nothing but warm, heartfelt feelings for Bud and his love for skating.
So, let’s all rally together and have the Recreation and Parks Commission hear our voice to do justice to the wonderful gesture made by Lars Anderson and build a regulation-size rink on a site that can support and make these two best friends and fans of skating proud!
Frank Orne
Fairview Road
