Islington Tribune - News: 'Show goes on with dry skates'

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 14 December 2007

Forty skaters have been preparing for the show with 800 tickets already sold

‘Show goes on with dry skates’

Chemical leak at Sobell Centre rink threatens Alice in Wonderland panto

A CHRISTMAS panto facing cancellation after a chemical leak forced children to flee from the Sobell Centre will be saved – thanks to a last-minute dispatch of “dry ice skates” from America.
The production of Alice in Wonderland on ice may become Alice-on-wheels after the leak of refrigeration gas on Saturday forced more than 50 people to be evacuated and the Sobell Ice Rink to close days before the show.
Forty pairs of “dry ice skates” – at a cost of £3,000 – are being flown over from America in a bid to save the threatened show for which more than 800 tickets have already been sold.
The brainwave, which entails using skates similar to inline skates but which move like ice-skates, came from Karen Coombes, a coach at the Sobell Ice Skating Club.
She is hoping to retrain her pupils in time for the show which starts on December 20, in case the rink is still not fixed.
The rink was shut after refrigeration gas, which keeps the ice frozen, began to seep out of a faulty pipe on a busy Saturday afternoon leaving scores of children shivering in the cold, wrapped in foil hypothermia blankets.
Now a question mark hangs over the future of the 30-year-old rink.
Ms Coombes said: “Aquaterra [responsible for Islington’s sports facilities] have done everything they possibly can for that ice rink.
“That rink is a dinosaur. We’ve been living on borrowed time for so long. The council needs to be putting money into it.
“The refrigeration man said the part is hard to get because it’s so old. You can’t get the R22 gas after 2010 because it’s not ozone-friendly so they will need a new rink anyway. The council has known this for years but never done anything about it.”
Parents have been preparing costumes and props and the 40 skaters aged between 3 and 22 have been practising since September. They still don’t know if the show will go on because the concrete below the ice may not be smooth enough for skating on wheels.
Ms Coombes said: “I’m very frustrated. The rink was the best place to be when we were growing up.
“Now we’re left without a rink. The children were really disappointed. I’ll see if I can train the children up on the dry ice skates. If the show can’t go on I‘ll have tried everything I can. It’s a really sad story. I just hope we can pull it off.”
She fears plans to redevelop the sports centre, which were revealed last week by leisure chief Councillor Ruth Polling, could leave skaters without a rink for years while the council waits to overhaul the whole centre.
Cllr Polling said residents would be consulted over the matter but the results of the consultation would not be out until next May.
She added: “This was clearly a serious incident, but we’re working as quickly as possible to get the ice rink up and running again.
“Sobell was built in the 1970s when such buildings were only designed to last 30 years, so it is now close to the end of its useful life.
“The council has been planning for this and has been making small investments to keep all the facilities operating.
“We have also expressed our firm commitment to making a lasting improvement, to ensure its future serving the Islington community. We need the community to be at the centre of any improvements.”

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