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.

The much awaited Grundy Park Leisure Centre synthetic ice rink is all set to open on the 8th of December, Monday, and will go up to the 4th of January, Sunday.

Make sure you get your bookings done fast as the advance bookings are available only till the 4th of December, and here onwards all the tickets will be available at the venue only. Do not fret if you do not have ice skates, for skates to hire are also provided here and each session will be on for 40 minutes. Make sure you come a little earlier to make sure that your skates fit well. After a long tiring session of ice skating, meals will also be available.

If you plan to have a party, or any corporate event, the ice rink is available on the following dates: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19th December between 10am and 3pm, prices are £90 per hour with a maximum number of 60 skaters.

If you have not bought a Christmas tree yet, trees will be available on the 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21st December from 9am till 6pm. The tickets are priced at are £4 for adults, £3 for children and £12 for a family of four and available from Broxbourne Civic Hall and all Council one stop shops

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.

With the coming of Christmas, comes the snow and the festive season is in the air. This Christmas will be a very special one for Pippa Teague as she will be able to see her dream come true.

Ice skating has always been a popular winter sport. This winter, Pippa Teague, who has a huge list of performances - 50 to be exact - all over the UK, will now be touring France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Netherlands as part of the production. An elated Pippa is performing in front of many of her former pupils and friends at Sheffield with twelve performances scheduled as the ice spectacular arrived on Tuesday the 18th to Sunday 23rd November.

An ex coach at the Sheffield arena, Pippa attributes her success to her passion for ice skating which is what has taken her this far.

Ice skating has over the years gained recognition and a faithful set of followers and has been regarded as a great family winter sport, besides being an Olympic sport. With new talent coming in and many ice skating rinks springing up all over the UK, ice skating fans have many reasons to celebrate.

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.

Montrose will soon have its own ice skate park after Angus Council approved plans for the Traill Drive development, but ice skaters are set to fight on until lighting is installed as part of the construction.

Angus Council’s development standards committee met to discuss whether or not to give its approval to a planning application to build an ice skating park at the Ashie car park at Traill Drive. With a tender specification already agreed upon, the approval will now result in the council issuing tenders for the project.

It was the second time the Montrose Skate Park Committee had had to wait with bated breath for the local authority to give ice skating facility its approval.

The approved plan does detail plans for outdoor lighting for the ice skate park, but that will not be included in the development at this stage after the authority’s neighbourhood services committee last month refused to include lighting as part of the tender specification.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Montrose SNP councillor Sandy West said he hoped the development standards committee would give the scheme its approval, despite earlier rulings by the council’s Alliance administration.

In her annual report, ice skate park committee chairperson, Kathleen Ritchie, said 2008 had been a traumatic year, but commended the committee for their patience and perseverance.

In addition, Mrs Ritchie said the council’s refusal to approve lighting for the new ice skating park raised concerns that members of the Alliance were not concerned with the safety of young people.

The two local ice skating teams were celebrating as they were given their brand new ice skating uniforms by a local energy plant and Dumfries and Galloway council.

The Solway Stars and Solway Eclipse synchronised ice skating teams competed the previous week and were provided with the uniforms after they wrote letters asking for financial backing.

Magnox North, at Chapel Cross donated 35 fleeces to the two teams, while Dumfries and Galloway Council gave the girls new skirts to wear.

The chairperson of both teams, Janet Brown, stated that the members of both teams were delighted at hearing the news of the new uniforms. She also added that the girls loved their new ice skating uniforms and she felt proud to watch them wearing the uniforms.

Both ice skating teams are made up of girls between the ages six and sixteen. They were competing in front of a 1,000-strong crowd at the Scottish Championships in Dumfries the previous weekend.

The girls are now preparing for the National Skating Championships due to take place in Sheffield in February.

People of York witnessed the official opening of their open-air ice skating rink on 14th November at the Eye of York below Clifford’s Tower for the fourth year in succession. Organiser Maria Farrugia says that more than 45,000 people took to the ice last Christmas, more than 110,000 visited it since it was first organised and the bookings this year were strong again.

James Cundall, chief executive of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, the company behind The Ice Factor said that they had tried to perfect the festive experience that every visitor of the only real ice skating rink in Yorkshire would experience with the help of new discounts and school partnerships.

Maria also added that their opening night was as eclectic as the previous year, with guest appearances from Leah Bracknell, star of Emmerdale, who appeared in a Grand Opera House pantomime and African drummers to start off the season with a bang. She claimed that Ryan Thornton was the star of the evening with a skating piece especially choreographed for The Ice Factor.

The ice skating rink opened for the public from 15th November, 2008 at 10am, with hour-long sessions daily (except Christmas Day) until 9.45pm on Sunday, January 4.