FOOTBALL legend David Seaman stopped by the Link Centre yesterday to help two of the town’s figure skaters reach their £20,000 fundraising goal to compete in the world championships.

The former England goalkeeper is no stranger to the world of figure skating after competing in the popular ITV series Dancing on Ice in 2006.

Now married to professional skater Frankie, he visited Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji at their training ground yesterday to rally support for the campaign, which will contribute to the costs of competing as well as funding their coach and costumes.

David, 53, and Frankie first came to meet the Swindon figure skating stars through their coach Mark Naylor, who also worked on Dancing on Ice.

David said: “I really wanted to get involved and donate because I was shocked that there wasn’t the funding there for them. We have a couple here that have the chance of being in the championships and maybe qualifying for the Olympics so you would think that the country would be getting behind them.”

After showing the crowd that he is still a talented skater, David hopes his visit raises awareness of Zoe and Christopher’s campaign but also gets more people involved in the sport.

“When I did the first series of Dancing on Ice, when we were training the ice was empty but halfway through, all the public sessions were full and it carried on from there because people were interested,” he added. “We skate two to three times a week for fitness and I have a fantastic coach in Frankie.

“I have even got a lot better since the show and we do a lot of tricks as well.”

Frankie added: “Skating at the moment is a marginal sport and everything is results based. They are trailblazers because we haven’t had anyone at this level for a long time.

“The more we can do to help them then the better it will look for the future.”

Zoe and Christopher are currently the British senior pairs champions and while the skating duo have managed to raise enough to get them to the World Championships in Helsinki at the end of this month, they hope by reaching £20,000, it will help them prepare for the next Olympic season which kicks off later this year.

To donate,visit www.gofundme.com/JonesBoyadji