Plaque, Junior Girls Solo Champ 1946

Shirley Cross won this plaque in 1946, aged about fifteen. Shirley started skating at age six, and she wrote later that roller skating quickly became her whole life: ‘Can’t remember how I first went to the skating rink but I can remember thinking [this is] what I want to do all day.’

Her hard work and training were rewarded with the Junior Ladies Solo title, and she went on to a number of other wins including the N.Z. Solo Ladies Championship in 1949 and the solo title at the Australia and New Zealand Roller Skating Championships in 1950.