Eileen Anderson

Behind-the-scenes official for British ice skating

Eileen Anderson was a renowned administrator of British ice skating.

Eileen Mary Anderson, skating administrator: born 25 December 1911; OBE 1982; died London 9 December 2004.

Eileen Anderson was a renowned administrator of British ice skating.

She joined the National Skating Association in 1936, when she was 25, and passed the bronze-medal proficiency test in ice dancing. However, it was as an organiser and behind-the-scenes official that she made her mark. In 1939 and for years afterwards, she ran the annual children's competition at Wembley ice rink.

From 1947 to 1985 she was honorary secretary to the NSA's ice-dance committee, working closely with the chairman Courtney Jones, four times world ice-dance champion and a future president of the association. He had first met her before the war; they worked together as a team and became lifelong friends.

Anderson was a firm and efficient team leader of the British skaters selected to compete in European, World and Olympic championships. She was a Vice-President of the British Olympic Association, and was awarded the Bronze Collar of the Olympic Order.

Her executive abilities found fulfilment in other spheres. She was for long years secretary to the managing director of the Norwegian shipping line Fred Olsen. But skating was the main love of her life, and her untiring efforts on behalf of the sport were recognised when she was appointed OBE in 1982 "for services to ice skating".

Dennis L. Bird