BOURNEMOUTH’S indoor winter ice rink is open, providing a fantastic seasonal activity.

I miss the Westover Road rink terribly, having spent every Saturday morning there as a child, and it’s wonderful to have a little taste of those days back again with the temporary rink at the BIC.

I even, dare I say it, vaguely managed to recover some of my ability to skate in the short time we were on the ice, which is more than I managed to do on the awful plastic rinks I’ve tried.

The Cool Coast Ice Rink in the complex’s Purbeck Hall includes a ‘snow’ machine, which entranced the two fiveyear- olds we took along, and a small children’s area and is larger than the rink in the Lower Gardens.

It holds a maximum of 250 people at a time and will remain until February 23.

This is the sixth year the BIC has hosted a rink, which also includes skating penguins to help youngsters keep their balance.

Tickets to skate are £7.50, including the skate hire.

Standard sessions are 90 minutes, running between 4pm and 8.45pm in term time and 11am and 8.45pm in the school holidays, with a later added session on Saturdays.

Family tickets and group concessions are also available and the minimum age to skate is four.

Miranda Robertson