Ms McLean, 78 and Mr McIver, 83, are still key members of the historic rink’s Murrayfield Ice Skating Club, which meets every Sunday morning. The club gives youngsters the chance to learn from the elder skaters, many of whom were successful competitors in their youth, as well as international figure skating judges such as Noel Grimshaw, who judged the first World Synchronised Skating championships in the US in 2000.

But now, the club often struggles to attract young skaters to join them, while the wider rink is also suffering a fall in ticket sales.

When Murrayfield first opened its doors in 1956 – 17 years after it was first built and after being used the UK Government as a wartime storage unit – the rink, the largest in the UK, was packed.

“We used to regularly have 1,000 people on the ice on a Saturday night, skating to a live band,” explains managing director Richard Stirling, who first visited the rink 55 years ago, when his friend’s sister dragged him along as a thirteen year old.

“Now, it is not so easy.”

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