I note that no mention of this has been posted on the Link Centre section of the council's website. This will mean that there will inevitably, be some visitors who will arrive for what they have seen on the ice rink timetable as a public session only to be turned away, disappointed. We don't think that the neglected opportunity to inform the public that the ice has been allocated to ice hockey on these public sessions is an accident. The Wednesday night public session is the only evening session in the week suitable for adults and youngsters who find disco sessions too crowded. No, it is not an accident, we feel that it is a deliberate decision by management to deter the general public from using the ice rink. The reason being that  ice hockey brings in more revenue. The introduction of the so called "New Ice Timetable" is another attempt to destroy skating at Swindon. This timetable has replaced the hockey time slots with the term "Club".This has been done to conceal the fact that most of the ice rink timetable has been allocated to ice hockey. Swindon Link Centre Ice Rink can now not be accused of descriminating against the general public as it is not apparent from the ice rink timetable that ice hockey takes the lion's share of the available ice time.

A copy of the old timetable is below:

New ice rink timetable below:

Unfortunately, the ice rink will be closed for the period Monday 27th July to Fri 7th August 2009 this closure is to replace the lighting. The present lights are more suited to street lighting than our wonderful ice rink :)

for updates to other closures: http://www.swindon.gov.uk/leisuresport/link/linkclosures.htm

The link Centre Ice rink is offering a dance course on Tuesday evenings on the 13th January, 20th January, the 3rd of February and the 24th February, the 10th March and the 24th March 2009. The cost of the course is £36. The time is 7:00 - 7:30pm. Enrolment is at the Link Centre Reception -quote "Dance Development Course". Times should be checked.

Good news for Wednesday evening general session skaters. From January 2009 The session will no longer allow ice hockey boots.

But as I said before very nice company and seasonal music. One of the magic moments of ice skating is gliding with little effort on a pristine surface. Although that beautiful surface only lasts for as long as the time it takes to cut it up it is a pleasure to look forward to.

Another skater who wrote to the Ice Rink Manager had a reply from the Recreation Manager (about the unfair taking of several adult sessions in favour of hockey matches) was told there is no Ice Rink Manager!

She wrote that she is the Link Centre Manager although she is referred to as the Recreation Manager. In my book if anything goes wrong in the Swindon Link Centre or any other local government service which is provided  for the use of the public it is ultimately the responsibilty of the manager of that service, the person in charge, to sort out.  Swindon Link Centre used to have an Ice Rink Manager up until 2004. Since there is no ice rink manager at present  it would seem that the person who wears three hats may have too much to do. (posted on the 10th October 2008 and edited subsequently)

The Recreation Manager had explained in her letter that the decision not  to use one of the two midweek disco sessions was made for financial reasons. She pointed out that  Recreation (Leisure and Sports Centres) is not a statutory provision and that they have to meet their budget. One must presume I suppose, that since there was no mention of why the Thursday evening ice hockey time was not used to accommodate the midweek ice hockey matches -the obvious choice- then that option was also rejected for financial reasons.

Why is it that, ice rinks owned by municipal authorities don't make money but lose money, whereas privately owned ice rinks for example Bristol make money and charge a lower entrance fee - at least to those who have their own skates? We think that the Swindon Link Centre Ice Rink does not lose money, but makes money. That money is used to compensate for the loss made by other services that the Link Centre offers. If we are wrong then why is the ice rink losing money?  Perhaps a superb sports facility like the Swindon Link Centre is not a commercially viable proposition. But then if that is the case then I don't think that ice skaters should be milked to pay for other facilities.

This isn't the first time that the music has been misplaced. It seems that if our regular ice steward is away the rest of the staff can't find the music. Surely there should be an agreed procedure to deposit the music in the same place in the ice rink box office and someone should also check that the music has been returned.