My rink closing?

[melanieuk]

I'm gutted. :(

My rink is privately owned. They might sell.
An article in the local newspaper says:
"Secret talks to sell ice rink for housing".

My therapy may turn in to a building site. :cry:


See the article here (http://www.edinburghnews.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1335532002) :frus:

[iceskater2]

Mel,

I really feel for you. My rink closed and my world fell apart. My coach left the state and I quit skating.

My rink was coverted into a haunted house for halloweeen. Imagine that it really really hurt....

[melanieuk]

My rink was built in 1939 at a cost of £60,000 apparently.
If everyone who ever skated there donated £1, the owners would be millionaires and would be able to build us a new rink. 8O

The bitter pill of it is that right next door to our "doomed" Olympic-sized rink, is a curling rink, which doesn't seem to be suffering the same fate. (?)

The people who are rumoured to be interested in buying the rink are planning to build houses.........right next to the river that has burst its banks and cost the rink £200,000 in flood damage.

Who, in their right mind, would want to live there?
But that's not all.....!

The rink also happens to be just feet away from the massive Murrayfield stadium (rugby).
Crowd/traffic congestion is already a mounting problem in our city. Who's going to want to live right next door to that when 1000s of people have to walk past your living room window to get to the stadium?

The local residents have opposed the move to build houses in years gone by. They correctly assume that building houses will simply make the flooding worse.
:!:

....I KNEW there was something going on.....
little men taking architectural shots of the area, loads of visitors to the rink in the mornings, the smartening-up paint job on the roof, the paintwork around the rink, the cost of patch ice going up by 25%......

It almost feels like somebody has died.....isn't that strange?
:cry:

[Aussie Willy]

Mel - I know exactly how you feel. You might remember back in July I posted a thread about our rink in Melbourne which was closed because of public liability insurance problems. However they did manage to get insurance and remain open.

But to lose it permanently when you obviously love it so much is terrible because it is not only a great sport, keeps you fit, but you also make so many friends.

I hope for your sake that it does not go ahead. Keeping fingers crossed for you and sending hugs and kisses and lots of empathy.

Kim

[icenut84]

Mel, that's terrible! :( What the heck is happening? Altrincham's closing, apparently Stretham and Oxford and Milton Keynes at least are under threat, now Edinbrough too? It's not fair at all. I hope your rink doesn't close - it'd be a real shame if it does. Altrincham's closing next year (sold to a housing developer - deja vu?), but Nicky Slater's company Adventure on Ice want to build a new one to replace it. It likely won't be open in time for the closure of the current one though. But there's been loads of stuff like protests and newspaper articles and a 9000 name petition. Maybe the same could be done where you are? It's worth a try. And Annabel told me something similar about Stretham, some kind of group set up. Maybe you could ask her about it.

Good luck, I hope everything goes ok.

[Mrs Redboots]

Originally posted by icenut84
Mel, that's terrible! :( What the heck is happening? Altrincham's closing, apparently Stretham and Oxford and Milton Keynes at least are under threat, now Edinbrough too? . Can I just clear up something about Streatham - the purchasers (a major supermarket chain) are only getting planning permission to build their supermarket on condition that a new rink and leisure centre are built next door (where the bus garage is now, for those of you who know the area) before the old rink is closed. The supermarket chain are bringing in new management for the rink (starting next week), and we are all very hopeful, both that our present skating conditions will be improved and that in two years' time we'll have a rink suitable for hosting the British Championships. Of course, everybody is keeping every finger and toe crossed, and there is a great deal of "Well, I'll believe it when I skate on it", but the plans are glorious, and we all hope they come off.

As I have told Mel on another board, Streatham skaters formed an action group (freespace.virgin.net/sisag.nicky/), and I am sure those who run it would be more than willing to share what they did and who they approached with skaters from other rinks under threat.

It is very sad indeed that so many ice-rinks in this country are under threat of closure, but I am heartened by news of proposed new rinks in Brighton and Southampton.