Stranraer - Ice and Palm Trees

[Rig of Jarkness]

Just come across this interesting combination from Stranraer on Flickr - Tropical Winter Sports? on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
 

[Moloko]

Interestingly the council came along and told them to stop until they had "risk assessed" the curling on the ice......the game continued

 

[David Martin]

There was a letter in the local paper in response to people compalining about the danger of skaters on the local ponds..

Get your skates on!
I could not believe my eyes when I read the article “Repeat of frozen water warning”.

Councillor Liz Fordyce spoke out after it emerged that families had been spotted playing on Stobsmuir (Swannie) Ponds just days after emergency services warned of the dangers of playing on iced-up ponds.

A concerned resident watched in disbelief, expressing that this was extremely dangerous, ridiculous, irresponsible behaviour.

Don’t get me wrong, if the ponds were 20ft, 10ft or even 3ft deep, I, too, would be concerned, but, the Swannie Ponds are about a foot and a half deep, and the important fact about this was that families were involved, not under-5s on their own.

Back in the fifties, as teenagers, we could not wait for the Swannie Ponds, and Claypotts to freeze over so that we could get the skates out and enjoy ourselves at free ice dancing or hockey.

I took our kids there in the 1970s, where they also had a great time, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a pity that we don’t have more of this freezing weather nowadays to exploit this facility.

So, please, you PC brigade, give it a rest and let the rest of us enjoy ourselves.

Currently, the ice must be several inches deep, and if an accident happens, it’s our fault and we will take the consequences. — Rory Fae Morgan.

[Salvatore]

I was going to post about the 30 acres of Baston Fen in South Lincolnshire, which used to be flooded every year, and which was used, if and when it had been cold enough for long enough, for speedskating events, including the national championships which I watched there in 1980. There was also ice hockey and a vast area for public skating. I was going to say that the practice had been discontinued in the late 1990s when the insurance premiums for holding the event became prohibitively expensive, so not only were the championships discontinued, but the huge public skating rink was no longer available. I was going to write all that, but then I came across these pictures, so all is not lost. Hooray!

[Jaded]

I've been skating on the Fens in a cold winter past. It was great fun, although I wasn't particularly fast.