In December, there will be a festival of sorts at the Grundy Park Leisure Centre. Ice skating enthusiasts will be more than happy to have a synthetic ice skating rink for almost a month at this popular park.

Grundy Park Leisure Centre will play host to a synthetic ice skating rink from Monday, 8th December 2008 to Sunday, 4th January 2009.  The size of the ice skating rink will be almost twice that of last year.

The number of ice skaters allowed in each session will be limited and hence it is recommended to book in advance if you want to take part in the event.  You will have to specify the day and time that you want to book.

If you do not have ice skates, you can hire them at the ice skating rink. The ice skating hire is included in the price. Each ice skating session will be forty minutes. It would be better if you can arrive half an hour before the scheduled time to give time to try on the skates. You should also wear warm clothing with gloves and warm socks.

Tickets can be purchased in advance from Broxbourne Civic Hall and at the Grundy Park Leisure Centre only from December 6th.

You have one more reason to enjoy your New Year this year. You can experience the enchantment, magic and illusion of Mystery, the latest ice spectacular by Holiday on Ice.

The Guinness Book of World Records has already recognised Holiday on Ice as the most visited ice show in the world. The extremely popular ice skating show has had 320 million visitors in the 65 years of its history - the most for any ice skating show anywhere in the world.

Holiday on Ice will now offer its latest show, Mystery, to the UK. The ice skating show will be appearing in Peterborough, Brighton, Cardiff and Exeter. The show will begin in January and run until the end of February.

The show has been choreographed and co-directed by Robin Cousins MBE and Anthony Van Laast MBE, the artistic director. It will be one of the best opportunities for ice skating enthusiasts to witness world-class ice skating along with amazing choreography, exquisite costumes and vibrant music - it will take you to a magical world.

Robin is a winner of three professional world figure skating titles and is also an Olympic gold medallist. Mystery is by far the most challenging and exciting show ever choreographed by her.

Pippa Teague, a Sheffield-based skater, has bagged a starring role in a spectacular ice skating show by Disney.

Teague trains and coaches at iceSheffield. She was recently selected to appear on the new Disney on Ice production, Finding Nemo. Many people were vying for this role but Teague was the lucky one to finally glide her way into the show.

Teague, a 24-year-old ice skater from Northern Ireland, successfully emerged from very stiff competition during the audition and selection process in Belfast. She had impressed all the judges with her talent and skating abilities.

Pippa, a resident of Wincobank, said that she had always dreamt of performing in a show of this profile. She said that she had performed at various skate shows in France and Italy, but that this was the first time that she had been involved in something this big and exciting.

The show requires sheer talent and a lot of professionalism. It will not be an easy task for Pippa. It is a full-time commitment to train for the show and it demands a lot of hard work and devotion from the performers. Pippa knows this and is preparing for the show both on and off the ice to ensure that she is ready for the event.

An adjustable ski boot for children, which is supposedly the first of its kind, is being officially launched this ski season, first in the US and then in more countries. The new IDEA ‘6-in-1 Kids Adjustable Ski Boot’ has been manufactured by a firm based in Italy.

The product is claimed to have received ‘a tremendous response’ in Europe. This development is significant because adjustable Roller Skates and Roller Blades are bound to get equally popular and in demand.

The new boot is said to be unique. IDEA is getting popular owing to its ability ‘to grow with children’. It can accommodate their changing needs. A video of the product can be found on video-sharing website, YouTube. The new ski boot for children accounts for their growing feet - from toddler age to their adolescence.

It is adjustable in three steps: 1. open buckle; 2. choose size, and 3. close lever. Some simple adjustments can cause length, width as well as cuff height to change and ensure comfort for young skiers.

With a few minor modifications, children can be ready quickly and in a pair of boots that are safe. It offers economic practicality since it can be used for years, meaning money is saved since there is no need to have new boots every year.

In a first of its kind, the pupils of a school in North Wales are getting their skates on in a project to beat obesity. This is the first such project in the UK.

Students at Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni on Anglesey will be given hour long sessions on freeline skating. The sessions will also include skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing.

The project is a part of an initiative funded by the Welsh Assembly to make the students fit and healthy by getting rid of obesity.

A senior coordinator of the project said that most of the students do take part in activities like football, netball etc., they were just helping them to try something different.

The idea is to keep the young people fit, healthy and tackle the obesity problem through regular physical activity. Roller skating is requires a lot of physical activity and is known for helping with obesity problems. Many experts recommend skating as an activity for people suffering from obesity problems. Roller skating does not require any costly equipment besides roller skates and some protective gear.

The students will get to be a part of the five week long project and fight their obesity problems. The intention is to get them interested in skating so that they can continue it later on in a skate park.

It was Everett who introduced her daughter to roller-skating at indoor rinks, but now years later, it is her daughter who suggested that she gave inline racing a whirl. Taking laps on her inline skates has made the 51-year-old Cathy Everett experience the thrill and joy of childhood. She states that she feels like a kid again.

Many like her, in their late forties and fifties, gathered at the Cook County Curling Club in Grand Marais, all displaying their youthful exuberance, jostling to stay ahead of other racers to the finish line.

This was the excitement and joy that one witnessed at the annual NorthShore Inline (skates) Marathon to Duluth starting from Two Harbours. It was the first such experience for many like Cathy Everett who took part in this 26.2 mile race. In fact, she did so with her daughter, Haley Hotan.

Everett prepared by skating almost two hours a week for six weeks, in addition to walking and stationary biking.

“We used to skate together all the time but have not been able to do that as the miles between us grew,” Everett stated.

The joy was rediscovered. Inline skaters in any part of the globe including the UK know what it means. Inline skating is challenging but fulfilling as well.

In a noteworthy instance of inline skating being blended with child development, Rollerblade earlier this year agreed to provide skating packages, including skates and protective gear, to each of the Kansas city-based PE4life Academies. An in-line skating curriculum and instructional videos were also offered. The unique experiment is worth emulating in the UK, as well simply because inline skating is extremely beneficial to body and mind, especially in case of growing children.

This is an initiative to counter childhood obesity through fitness oriented inline skating. PE4life is a leading agency for quality health and fitness programmes. PE4life Academies are projected as health and fitness programmes that look to train communities/school districts in their health and wellness based approach towards physical education. Rollerblade had offered the participants good concessions on additional purchases apart from discounts on Rollerblade equipment. The experiment has been successful in keeping with the optimism expressed by the company when the project was first launched.

The idea behind the whole exercise is to: “get children active and well involved in lifelong physical fitness activities, according to Rollerblade. Rollerblade is among the world’s leading companies in the in-line skating product line.

An ice rink in Sussex has been put back on the market for sale by the top council bosses after the plans to turn the ice skating rink into flats did not materialise.

The Sussex Ice skating rink in Brighton’s Queen Square was earmarked for demolition by a developer to make way for building flats. The flats were supposed to be for residential as well as leisure use.

However, after four years of the scheme being discussed, Hove and Brighton City council has put the ice skating rink back up for sale again.

There are no plans to revive the closed ice skating rink again. The council is looking for develop other things around the site.

Before the ice skating rink was closed in May 2003, it was the only skating venue in the area for more than thirty years. The ice skaters in the locality have nowhere to go to enjoy ice skating.

There are a lot of people in Brighton and Hove City who would love to see an ice skating rink come up in the city. However, their dreams will have to wait until the council or some private developer thinks about developing an ice skating rink.

The 26 year old girlfriend of Prince William helped to organise a “tongue in cheek” roller skating event in Vauxhall, London with the intention of raising money for a charity that was set up in the memory of an old friend from school.

The event was a great success. People turned up in hundreds for the roller skating event to help raise money for the charity. The money will go towards the development of a new surgical ward at the Oxford Children’s Hospital. The hospital was set up the memory of Thomas Waley-Cohen. Thomas died at a young age of 20 in 2004 due to bone cancer.

The idea for the roller disco came after a group of people got together and decided to do something to raise money for charity. They wanted to do something new and fresh. The idea of roller skating occurred as it is fun and tongue in cheek, like the lighter side of life, just like Thomas himself was.

The roller skating event was able to generate £100,000 for the charity. Most people like to enjoy roller skating and the fact that they can contribute to a charity at the same time makes it much more appealing. A roller disco could be a popular choice for raising money for charity.

“Dana Marschz, a mediocre thespian, roller skates to and from school through the city’s streets because he can’t afford gasoline,” informs Steve Coogan when talking about his new role in Hamlet 2. But herein lies the twist!  His character’s roller skating is nowhere near as good as his acting, as Coogan adds, his poor skating were indeed ‘more true to life than he would really care to admit.

As an entertainer who has paid his dues, gradually charting his course up the ranks in his native Great Britain, Steve Coogan narrates:

”When I talked to my director about this, he simply told me to just skate around the parking lot near the set. So I was skating back and forth, and Andrew Fleming the director, kept laughing, and when I asked, ‘Can I stop now?’ he said, ‘No, keep going. I want to keep watching. I want to keep enjoying this.’”

Apart from the roller skating bit, the one reason for which Coogan was drawn to the recently released Hamlet 2 in which he plays Dana Marschz was, as he puts it:

“Every actor knows so few of us get to make a decent living as actors. It is only natural many former actors can only keep a connection to the business by teaching drama.”

Dana Marschz roller-skates to save money because he runs the minuscule drama department at a poor high school.