John Turner's love affair with Ice Skating started way back in the 1950’s when he used to ice skate at the old Spring Hill Ice Rink in Birmingham

John played Ice Hockey there and that is where he met his soon to be wife Anne Crompton, an aspiring young figure skater

Anne continued to progress in her skating career, eventually turning Pro and appearing in numerous shows throughout the UK

They wed in early 1960 and in December had their first son Rod, 6 years later their second son Paul came along

Both boys skated from an early age but against the judgement of mother Anne both decided that their skating careers lay in the Ice Hockey arena

Both played at a very high level for Solihull Barons for many years, both were capped internationally with Paul excelling at the sport playing for the GB under nineteen’s, twenty ones and full GB honours
John opened his Skating and Sports Shop in Birmingham in the year of 1976, son Rod worked and ran the shop until the mid 80’s

John then branched out to launch Turners Custom Grinding TCG, and has sharpened many aspiring skaters ever since

His TCG business combined with selling both John Wilson & MK Blades, and importing WIFA boots from Vienna Austria has kept John very busy

He has traveled far and wide sharpening the great and good at many international events “keeping the stars on edge”; his travels have seen him “represent Great Britain” as the official skate sharpener for all comers at the following prestigious events

1994 European Figure Skating Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark
1994 Winter Olympics, Lillehammer, Norway
1995 World Figure Skating Championships NEC Birmingham, England
1996 European Figure Skating Championships, Sofia, Bulgaria
1998 Winter Olympics, Nagano, Japan
2000 European Championships Vienna Austria
2001 European Championships Bratislava Slovakia

During this time Anne Crompton-Turner had passed many ice skating tests, she then become a coach, then an Olympic Coach (attending the World Championships in Hartford Connecticut in 1981 with Debbie Cottrell) specialising then in Pairs Skating. Anne then attended many European and World Championships with numerous British Pairs skating champions, she the became a Master Coach, and still trains many hopefuls at her beloved Solihull Ice Rink.

Their youngest son Paul immigrated to Canada in the 90’s and oldest Rod worked for a beer company for 22 years before recently helping out the family skating concern.