Highland Spring has worked with Perth and Kinross Sports council for quite a few years now, to provide young sportspeople with a monthly award, recognising the talent within them. The age limit for this award is set at 18 years, making sure that it is the young who achieve it.

The Highland Spring award not only recognises an ambassador of sports but also helps encourage young athletes while creating role models for them. The latest winner is Hazel Christie, a 14 year old ice skater from Perth.

Hazel Christie is a young dedicated member of the Perth Figure Skating Club. Training both before and after school shows her devotion to ice skating. Hazel makes sure that she trains on weekends too.

Hazel was the winner of the Scottish Championships that was held in October this year. She also successful completed her Level 6 and Level 7 tests which led to making her the perfect candidate for the award.

Stating her future goals, Hazel said that she now looked forward to completing her Level 8 tests successfully. She also added that she was determined to compete in the British Championships.

With the onset of winter, the temperature outside has been decreasing. Though it is that time of the year when people often prefer to stay in their homes, students of Runshaw College prefer being out enjoying the cold, balancing their lessons along with it.

The Hawkshead building of the college near Langdale Road has a new attraction with the setting up of an ice skating rink. Ice skaters dressed themselves in fancy dress when the ice skating rink was officially opened. This added to their fun of ice skating in this chilly weather.

A spokesperson for the college said that though the weather outside was freezing, the chill was not felt, as the atmosphere created at the ice skating rink was warm and kept everyone happy while they enjoyed ice skating.

Ice skating is enjoyed by everyone and is also quite beneficial. Besides all the enjoyment, it is a great form of character building where self-confidence is instilled as a valuable virtue. Ice skating is also a good form of exercise that helps maintain good posture.

Runshaw College has therefore opened up its students to physical benefits along with the benefits of the educational world.

The much awaited ice skating rink for the Petersfield Christmas Festival has hit town. The rink is now been erected to prepare for the commencement of the three day Festival at noon tomorrow.

Though all the tickets for Saturday and Sunday have been sold, a handful of tickets still remain for the early sessions on Friday which include sessions at noon, 1pm and 3pm. The sale of tickets will continue at the offices of the Petersfield Post, at 33 High Street, Petersfield through Friday morning till noon.

Tickets will be available on first come first served basis and will be given only to personal callers. Payment will be accepted only through cash and cheques.

Ticket returns for shows not mentioned above will be available on the day of the event at the district council’s information chalet near the ice skating rink in The Square. Remaining tickets will also be sold at the same place.

The costs of the tickets have been fixed at £5 for adults, £3 for children and £12 for a family ticket which includes two adults and two children. Since the post will be unable to refund or swap tickets, all queries and problems should be directed to the district council’s staff at the event chalet.

13-year old ice-skater, Taylor Ronald, crashed her sledge into a tree last January, rupturing her spleen. Though her parents were worried about this life-threatening injury, Taylor’s only concern was the British Ice Skating Championships, which she would miss two days later.

Taylor had qualified for the championships when she won the Welsh Open novice title, though she had to undergo an emergency operation while the championships went ahead. Taylor was forced to take absence for 3 months, but still succeeded in retaining the Welsh figure ice skating title. She said that her parents reassured her saying that getting her health back was important.

Taylor has also been the Scottish champion and has now managed to qualify for the novice and junior events that will be held during the British Championships next month. She ranks highest among the 13 year-olds in the UK junior division and is one of the three of her age group in the top 20 of GB junior.

Taylor’s parents, former European Tour player Craig Ronald and his wife, Lorraine said that Taylor was not afraid of the ice despite her accident. Her coach Lean Mullen added that Taylor was a very determined girl and worked hard.

Since ice skating costs are punitive, Craig believes that that proper funding and support could lead his daughter to become an Olympic ice-skater.

Bracknell town centre has winter sports on its programme list this month due to the arrival of a new ice skating rink and ski slope.

A synthetic ice skating rink which will be moved to Charles Square next week made its appearance at the Broadway this weekend. This ice skating rink will be up soon and will begin running from next Saturday.

The new ice skating rink was provided by Fun Ice. A ski slope provided by the John Nike Leisuresport Complex will also be there. Sessions on the ice skating rink cost £2 for over-16s and £1 for under-16s. This also includes the cost of the skates.

Helen Barnett, marketing manager for Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, the company which organised the events, said that they hoped the ice skating rink and the ski slope would add more festive cheer to the town centre as part of the Christmas activities that were planned for everyone. She also added that these activities will be great fun for the entire family to enjoy.

Barnett mentioned that people who have not tried ice skating before would have a chance to learn the sport as there will be on-site instructors to show them how it is done.

It is that time of the year again when the Christmas spirit comes out and along with it, the ice skates. A popular winter sport, ice skating is also an Olympic sport and a great recreational facility for otherwise listless and bored kids who have nothing else to play thanks to the snow.

Studies have shown that ice skating is an activity that keeps children busy as well as a good distance away from such elements.

The sport of ice skating has picked up over the years and it is obvious that new talent is being encouraged with the news of figure skaters from Lanarkshire who have ice skated their way into the Guinness Book of Wold Records.

The 48 skaters from the North Lanarkshire Figure Skating Club set the record for the most number of two footed spins in one hour with a total of 3917 spins. The £822 that was raised with this effort will be donated to this year’s Children in Need.

This effort by the ice skaters clearly demonstrates the growing popularity of this sport and with better talent coming up, ice skating sure has a great future ahead.

Ice skating is a sport loved by all and in the winter as the snow comes down, out come the ice skates as people head for the ice skating rinks. Those who are looking to ice skate this winter can head for the open air ice skating rink at York. With displays of African drumming, dancing and even the ‘Pudsey on Ice’, the Ice Factor is all set to bring the Christmas spirit to York.

An audience of 45,000 attended the Ice Factor last Christmas and this year, an audience in excess of 110,000 is expected.

With great new attractions like discounts, school partnerships and more, people are expected to flock in great numbers to the ice skating rink and as the organisers claim, you will not leave disappointed as the festival promises to be as eclectic as the previous years.

The ice skating rink opened on 15th November with hour long sessions that will go on till Sunday, January 4th except on Christmas day.

The tickets are priced affordably at £8.95 for adults and £7.95 for children and concessions.
For the lucky ones with a York Card, you get a discount of a £2.50 discount for weekday sessions, up to and including the 5pm session, until December 18th.

The coming of Christmas also means the start of the ice skating craze. Ice skating is a popular winter sport and also a great recreational activity. It is closely associated with Christmas. In winter, when most other sports are rendered unplayable because of the snow, the ice skates come out and most people head for the ice skating rinks. A great sport for budding talent, ice skating rinks are springing up everywhere and this is what has encouraged new talent, as seen with the Kyle Club Skaters.

The Kyle Club Skaters, who participated in the Skate Scotland Open Championships in Dumfries, were victorious with five first place trophies, one second and four third place trophies. Having won trophies at the Ayr and the Dundee Opens already, Kyle Club has had a great season and this has proved a great encouragement for young children who want to take ice skating up as a sport.

For those who want to be a part of the Kyle Club, or want to learn figure skating, tuitions are provided for children aged 3 and above. With the increase in ice skating rinks and with such achievements, ice skating has a long and bright future!

For all those out there who are looking forward to bringing in the Christmas spirit and cheer with a skate around an ice skating rink, look no further, for Southampton’s Christmas ice rink, backed by the Daily Echo will open every day, starting 21st November till the 11th January. The ice skating rink is situated outside the civic centre and will have a capacity of 200 skaters at any given point of time, so this makes for the perfect Christmas outing with your friends and family.

The opening times at the ice skating rink are 10 am to 8:30 pm from Sunday to Wednesday and Thursday to Saturday from 10 am to 9:30 pm.

The peak prices are £8.50 adult, £6.50 children, students, concessions. Family Tickets are just £28.
The tickets are available directly from the venue but with the anticipated rush, it is advisable to book in advance so that you get the opportunity to ice skate at this great ice skating rink.

Following weeks of intense training, two novice ice skaters stepped on to the ice and demonstrated their skills with some of the world’s top ice skaters in a spectacular free ice show at East Kilbride Shopping Centre.

Deputy centre director of EK, Michelle McCabe and Clyde 1 DJ Gina McKie, had overcome a series of injuries, trips and slips to perfect their routines and aimed to raise as much money as possible for Cash for Kids during their performance in the first show on Sunday, 16th November.

The pair shared the stage with ice skating luminaries, Anna Rechnio and Natalia Pestova - who featured on Dancing on Ice – in EK’s internationally famous ice show spectacular.

According to Michelle, when she and her partner started training during summer she was not sure if they would be able to pull it off since she had not ice skated as a child and was very unsteady on the ice. Clyde 1’s Gina added that their coach Annette was first class. He also stated that although Michelle and he had a few tough moments, they were determined to put in a good performance.

The show was a success and got a very good turnout.