Skating stars' final performance for baby unit

David and Stacey King will retire from competition to focus on coaching

British Olympic ice skaters David and Stacey King are set to perform for one final time to raise money for the hospital unit that helped care for their premature daughter.

The mulitple national Pairs champions, who live in Carlisle, competed at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.

They will deliver their final performance at the Trophee D’Ecosse Challenger International competition in Dumfries on Friday.

It is in aid of the special care baby unit at Cumberland Infirmary that helped their daughter, Darcey, when she was born almost 10 weeks early.

Mr and Mrs King are set to donate their fee to the unit and there will be collection buckets at the event throughout the weekend.

Darcey was born on 16 June 2020, in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and spent nine weeks in the special care unit.

Mrs King, from Preston, said: "She only weighed 2lbs, so she was very sick when she was first born, and they cared for her and obviously saved her life."

Stacey King contracted sepsis while she was pregnant with Darcey

Mr King, from Carlisle, said: “We just want to raise the profile of the unit and to just try and give back, in our own way”.

The couple, who are now ice skating coaches, have two other children; Ethan, aged six, and four-year-old Sienna.

All their children were born at the Cumberland Infirmary.

Amanda Kennett, Associate Director and Head of Midwifery at the Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust, said: "We are very grateful to David and Stacey for wanting to give something back."