Established in 2012, the National Museum of Roller Derby (NMRD) is the UK’s first permanent collection of ephemera and memorabilia relating to the sport of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby. In 2016, to celebrate our new permanent home in Glasgow Women’s Library’s new Bridgeton HQ, we bring you an ‘Object of the Month’ from our ever expanding collections.
We want your old team shirts, flyers, zines and other paraphernalia to illustrate the remarkable development of the sport in the UK. Keep an eye on the Facebook page for future announcements on how to donate items to the Museum.
Photos taken by Rebel Rebel #15 (aka Catheine Hemelryk) with thanks to Joe Brown & Luke Harby.
August
Roller Skating NHS Nurse’s uniform (modelled on the original NHS uniforms from the 1940s), worn at the 2012 London Olympic Opening Ceremony by a London Rockin’ Roller skater.
Danny Boyle’s Olympic Opening Ceremony was watched by 62,000 in the Olympic Stadium and an estimated one billion people worldwide. The ceremony told the story of London and Great Britain from its beginnings as a green and pleasant land to the working men and women of the Industrial Revolution. It included a visit to Buckingham Palace with James Bond and the Queen parachuting into the stadium, a celebration of the National Health Service and children’s literature followed by Mr Bean, a whistlestop tour of British pop music and culminating with the invention of the World Wide Web and the lighting of the Olympic torch.
The NHS section featured roller skaters creating a dancing necklace around the dancing beds and children creating shapes including the logo for Great Ormond Street Hospital and a crescent moon. The skating nurses were roller derby skaters from the London Rockin’ Rollers and London Rollergirls plus jam and recreational skaters from across the capital. During the nightmare sequence a giant Cruella de Ville, Queen of Hearts and Voldemort appeared, tormenting the children trying to sleep and put an evil curse upon the nurses turning them into zombies. The Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang also appeared on quad skates and a group of menacing, skating Dementors featuring another London Rockin’ Roller and London Rollergirl. After a squad of Mary Poppins’ flew in on their umbrellas and vanquished the baddies, the skaters celebrated with a pinwheel in front of Mike Oldfield performing In Dulce Jubilo(!)
The skaters undertook 150 hours of rehearsal in the three months leading up to the event, which was choreographed by original cast members of Starlight Express.
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