Those of you who attended the Christmas Get Together earlier in the month will have been updated on where things stand at the moment, and though things have been quiet in the public domain recently, rest assured wheels have been turning considerably behind the scenes regarding the proposed Durham Arena development. As  the Foundation understands it, numerous meetings with investors, the local Council and land owners have taken place in the last few months since the plans were announced – all with positive feedback and outcomes. The next few months of the new year are obviously extremely important in moving the project forward, and we’re confident that we’ll be able to bring you news of concrete developments as and when they happen. 

As was discussed at the Christmas Get Together, the global economic slump is obviously affecting all aspects of business at the moment, and though this has slowed down negotiations regarding the proposed development in Durham, we’re told the knock-on effects shouldn’t hold too much of an impact, and that even in some regards, may make a leisure development a more attractive proposition.

We’re expecting a planning application to be formally filed early in 2009 which will be the next significant milestone in making the project become a reality. Media interest in the development remains high, and filming for a BBC programme following the new Arena’s progress and the history of ice in Durham has also recently begun.

Finally, we’d just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and we hope that 2009 brings us closer to seeing the rink we’ve been waiting almost 13 years for.

Congratulations to former Durham figure skater Samantha Mason who is in the Guinness Book of Records after completing the world’s biggest ‘wheel on ice.’  Sam was the 65th and final skater to join the wheel making it a Guinness World Record for Robin Cousins’ (MBE) Holiday On Ice team. The successful record attempt was made on an outdoor rink in Mainz, Germany on September 8th 2008. 

CDIF chair Christine Eskildsen said: “I personally coached Sam during her amateur career skating for Durham and I’m excited and proud of her continued impressive international career.  Well Done to everyone who took part!” 

Check out the video below:

We’ve also planned a bit of a Christmas Party / Get-Together where hopefully we can update everyone further on how things stand with the new rink, as well as have a chance to get everyone together for a natter and have a few festive drinks. There’ll also be an air hockey competition (best after a few beers) and Wasps games shown on big screen.

The party will be held at the Three Tuns Hotel in Durham on Tuesday 9th December from 7:30pm

Tickets are £5 and all will be entered into a draw to win £100. Details of how to get tickets in advance will be posted soon.

Facebookers can also RSVP to the event here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=47115804264

We look forward to seeing some of you there! 

Rachel Warren, a primary-school teacher, has been skating since the age of 15 –shortly before the closure of the old Riverside Rink. In 2006, she decided to dig out her skates again and began training once again at Billingham Forum.

“It’s not ideal as it’s a 52 mile round trip, which isn’t great taking into account the price of petrol earlier this year and the fact that I am visiting the rink at least three times a week. I’m also skating at Whitley Bay once a week (again about 52 mile round trip!) and it takes between 35 and 50 minutes to get there aswell. Through this though I have been able to meet so many lovely people so I guess it worked out quite well.” Rachel told us.

“When I found out Durham may be getting a new rink it was great, it means I’ll be able to skate much more frequently, and if it were to follow most other rinks and have an early morning session for figure skating it would mean I could train on quieter ice before going to work instead of limiting myself to busy public sessions.

As a teacher the only times I can skate are when the children are out of school and during the winter months it makes it hard to practise anything safely. Having a rink so close to home and place of work means that I could hopefully get more practise in.

It would also be great to see the children I teach there. Most 4 year-olds don’t believe that a teacher can ice skate, and many have said they would like to try it, but the rinks are too far away for them. A rink on their doorstep makes it much more possible for them and it would be lovely to see them there occasionally.”

Alex Wall first skated when she was 9 and on holiday in Plymouth. 

“At the time I didnt really have a great interest in skating so never got to try the Durham Rink and when I did get interested I had to wait until passing my driving test in 2003 to give me the freedom to travel to Billingham for lessons. Having the rink back in Durham would mean so much to so many people as well as myself. I know i will be able to afford lessons as it would only be a 20 mile round trip, saving on petrol and time.” 

Lisa Brewin (pictured above) first look to the ice in Durham as a youngster, and despite the set-back of Durham’s closure shortly afterwards, she is now a professional skater for the world’s largest touring live-entertainment production Holiday on Ice. Lisa has been on the professional circuit for over 5 years now, and has starred in a number of shows around the world. She is currently rehearsing for a new production in Holland called Energia. Lisa told us how the rink’s in 1996 closure affected her:

“I was just starting secondary school when our rink was closed and I was devastated. I had such dreams of training in the morning and afternoon sessions walking to and from school.
Thankfully I still made it into shows, my dream career but it wasn’t easy, something I definitely could not have done without the sacrifces and time my parents also put in. I was lucky in a sense that there were other rinks to go such as Sunderland – which has also sadly closed – and Billingham but it was never the same feeling as having your own skating club in your own city. ”

Though she is often a long way from home these days, Lisa is also very excited about plans to bring ice back to Durham once again:

“The news of another rink in Durham City is fantastic and maybe in the future there could be a job for me there coaching or choreographing! Figure Skating and Hockey are both such wonderful sports. It takes patience, strength and skill to become a skater something that has endless possibilities. Its a sport that can really excite kids and you can enjoy at all ages. Im so happy others will now have the oppounity to skate and share the love of the sport that I and many others have.”

Tuesday morning saw the announcement of Arena plans featured prominently on the Mike Parr Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Newcastle.

A series of vox-pops with local Durham residents was followed by a phone interview live on the show with myself (once I’d remembered to turn the answerphone off in a blind panic). Click on the link below to listen to the full feature. (Approx 4mins)

Durham City’s MP, Roberta Blackman-Woods has today added her support to plans for a new ice arena in Durham. In today’s Northern Echo she declared last week’s announcement as “great news”.

She said: “I am pleased that my suggestion of Belmont as a possible site for a new ice rink has ultimately been successful.

“One of my key campaigns has been to try to get more facilities for young people in our city and a new ice rink is part of that effort.

“But not only that; having more and better leisure facilities is key to local sport and tourism, and the new site should create more jobs too.

“I hope the local councils move quickly to look at and approve this new sporting facility and I look forward to its opening in due course.”

The announcement was made public at the inaugural Ian Defty Memorial Trophy at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena and received possibly the biggest cheer of the evening from the crowd.

The new rink will be located at the former LG Philips site at Belmont, forming part of the next phase of the recently created 42-acre Mandale Business Park on the outskirts of the city.

Former Philips LG site at Belmont, Durham.

The proposed development will boast a 3,000-seater ice arena with an Olympic-sized (60m x 30m) ice pad plus cafés, restaurants, a fitness suite and retail outlets designed to complement the centre’s leisure facilites.

The proposals have been masterminded by a north-based company set up to invest in new leisure and retail opportunities in the region. A spokesman for the developers said:

“We want to create a high-quality visitor experience, and we believe by bringing these leisure facilities together under one roof we can create a landmark leisure destination to attract users from across the region.”

Following detailed negotiations with Mandale Group - the owners of the site -   the developers are confident they can now move ahead with the project and have begun initial discussions with Durham City Council regarding planning consent.

Joe Darragh from Mandale Group said: ” If final terms can be agreed and the local planning authority approve it, the development would be great for the city and we believe would be a very popular venue bringing visitors from miles around to Durham. Everybody would benefit from this fantastic facility.”

The County Durham Ice Foundation welcomed the announcement, saying:

“It’s been a long time coming, but we are delighted by the news and extremely excited by the plans. People in Durham of all ages have been crying out for a facility like this for years, and we’re confident it will exceed a lot of people’s expectations.”

As well as providing a much needed ice skating facility for the local community, the arena will see the much-anticipated return of ice hockey to Durham once again.

It is anticipated that up to 200 jobs could be created by the leisure scheme and the developers aim to involve several local business in its creation. The centre could potentially be open for business by as early as Autumn 2009. Any comments, suggestions or commercial interest in the development can be directed through rich@cdif.org.uk

More details will be released as we get them. Thanks for sticking with us over the years, it’s been a long slog, but ladies and gentlemen, we’re confident that the ice age is upon us once again.

A new ice rink development for Tyneside was announced on Sunday 24th August which could see a 3,000 seater arena built on land adjacent to Gateshead International Stadium.

The proposed 7 acre development would offer a range of new sporting facilities to complement the existing International Stadium, Indoor Athletics Hall, sports academy and English Institute of Sport Performance Centre.

The centrepiece of the new development would be a new ice arena catering for public skating, ice hockey and other ice events, with expressions of interest from potential developers and operators currently being sought. by Gateshead Council.

The announcement was made on as part of the Olympic ‘Fly The Flag’ ceremony, where the Mayor of Gateshead, Councillor Maureen Chaplin was joined by two young athletes from Gateshead Harriers to raise Gateshead’s Olympic Flag. The ceremony coincided with the handover of the Olympic Flag to the Mayor of London as part of the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Announcing the start of Gateshead’s search for a developer, Councillor David Napier, Cabinet member for Culture, said:

“Gateshead International Stadium is already a world-famous athletics venue, and its reputation as a major training facility is growing. Our aim now is to capitalise on what we already have here by developing something really special.”

The County Durham Ice Foundation fully supports these plans to bring a new facility to the North East, and we hope that we will be in a position in the near future to be able to compliment this development with a second new ice rink in the region for the people of County Durham.

The life of Ian Defty, whose life was tragically cut short earlier this year will be celebrated later this month in a 4-team tournament at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle.

Ian, who grew up as part of Durham Junior IHC and was a key member of the 1995/96 Durham City Wasps squad was a well known character in North East Ice Hockey and iced for a number of teams in his career including Newcastle, Hull, Whitley Bay, Guilford and Solway. A host of ex-team mates of Ian’s will battle it out for the inaugural Ian Defty Memorial Trophy with proceeds from the game placed in a trust for Ian’s young children Marcus and Niamh.

The teams will be led by former Wasps Shaun Johnson (Shuggy’s Shotguns ), Anthony Payne (Payney’s Pirates), Michael Tasker (Tasker’s Trashers) and Paddy O’Connor (Paddy’s Predators). Other players taking part include former Newcastle Vipers Scott Campbell, Mikko Koivunoro, Pasi Raitenen, Simon Leach, Karl Culley, Martin King, Anthony Johnson, Michael Bowman and Stephen Wallace. Former Durham Wasps players Ivor Bennett, Peter Herkes, Karl Walker, Andrew Carter and Malcolm Bell will also be icing on the night.

Doors open for the tournament at 6:15pm on Wednesday 27th August 2008, with the first game taking place at 7:00pm. A shirt-auction will take place after the games and an after party will take place at the Sports Café on Grainger Street in Newcastle’s City Centre for all players and fans. Tickets are priced at £5 for adults and £2.50 for under-12s, and are available now from four outlets:

1. Metro Radio Arena box office
2. Breakout ice hockey shop, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
3. Garden house Pub (opposite St. Leonards School, Durham
4. Stonebridge Pub, Langley Moor, Durham

Tickets are also available by post. Contact Gary Barr g.barr91@yahoo.co.uk
for details. All credit to Gaz for organising what’s set to be a great night in honour of ‘Reggie’.

The images below show how the “Sky Rink” could have looked. Due to a restrictive footprint, and the desire by the architects to maximise seating capacity within the space available, a distinctive design was drawn up with two tiers of seating down one length of the rink, two smaller tiers at the opposite side, and one stand of seating behind the goal, with room for standing at the other end.

ABOVE: Architects drawings showing each end of the building facing Stephenson Way and Beveridge Way, as well as a cross-section demonstrating the building’s tiered seating configuration.

ABOVE: A cross-section of the building which would have featured an international-sized ice pad

ABOVE: A view from the Beveridge Way corner of the building showing the spiral staircases leading to the upper-tiers of seating on the main stand

ABOVE: A view of the main seating area from the opposite side of the ice

ABOVE: Looking onto the ice from the lower tier

Despite the Feasibility Study coming out extremely favourably with regard to the proposed development, it was not to be, and at Christmas 2004, the site owners (Freshwater) pulled the plug on the plans.

The decision to terminate the project was blamed upon the site owners (Freshwater) unwillingness to commit funding to the project despite research by Adventure on Ice demonstrating that the scheme was feasible. The whole project, which would have included extensively refurbished retail units and a remodelled and improved entrance to the existing leisure centre was estimated to cost £7.2m

Phil Ball, Director of Leisure Services for Sedgefield Borough Council stated in The Northern Echo (31st March 2005) “We were very serious about the idea and disappointed it won’t be possible.”

A company spokesperson for Freshwater said “We are still working very closely with the council to plan the town centre’s redevelopment, in particular to create a greater amount of retail close to the leisure centre.”

In a nutshell - no ice rink. More shops.