With all the talk of ‘fridge kids‘ during the mainstream media’s coverage of Olympic snowsports, you’d be forgiven for thinking that freestyle snowboarding in the UK began with the construction of the Tamworth Snowdome in 1994. However, you’d be wrong.

Along with the real snow on the Scottish mountains, things were happening long before then at dry slopes – Sheffield Ski Village being one of them. Sadly the centre that was invaluable to the careers of countless British snowboarders – including Olympican Dom Harington – was destroyed in a fire back in 2012, and the land it stood on is set to be given over to a housing project.

This hasn’t been something that the UK snowboard community have taken lying down, campaigning and petitioning for the centre to be rebuilt. An organisation called Snowsport for Sheffield has been set up to spearhead the movement, and today it received the backing of the BBC’s Ed Leigh.

In Ed’s video message of support, he acknowledges the centre’s contribution to the UK snowsports scene as a whole. Whether it’s setting Olympic athletes on their way, or making the traditionally elitist world of snowsports accessible to all, Sheffield has played a positive role in countless lives.

With the country still basking in the afterglow of Jenny Jones’ Sochi success (which wouldn’t have been possible without the plastic fantastic), Ed notes that the time to generate interest in this cause is now. With enough help, can Sheffield Ski Village “rise again from the ashes, quite literally?”