Places features

The ice-rink outside The Forum in Norwich has returned for the sixth year, to the delight of skaters everywhere.

Five weeks of skating

There were concerns whether the rink would go up at all, after the ice was vandalised in 2007.

"The vandalism was an unfortunate one-off event and we wouldn't let that get in the way of putting up something that is so valued. It's part of the infrastructure that people expect to see at this time of year," said Mark Hands from The Forum Trust.

In previous years, the skating arena has been constructed in mid November giving ice lovers nearly eight full weeks to make use of the rink. Over the 2008/2009 season, the rink has a reduced service of just five weeks.

"We've experienced over the last two or three years, that people don't really get into the Christmas spirit until December, so we decided to put all our resource into a five week period," said Mark.

NORWICHCHRISTMAS

The ice-rink now forms part of Norwich's festive fayre called NORWICHCHRISTMAS.

NORWICHCHRISTMAS takes place between Wednesday, 3 December to Sunday, 14 December, 2008, and is a combination of all the great things that Norwich has to offer - from retail to heritage.

The fun continues after Sunday, 14 December, when a toboggan simulator comes to The Forum.

"After NORWICHCHRISTMAS we will have a glacier simulator. You get into a capsule and it will be as though you have got into a toboggan and are going down a glacier. We'll have the bungee trampolines and there will be food available on Millennium Plain too," said Mark.

The Forum ice-rink is open from Saturday, 29 November, 2008 - Friday, 2 January, 2009 on Millennium Plain in Norwich. Skating runs from 10.00am to 8.00pm daily.

For more information, go to www.theforumnorwich.co.uk