Ice rink goes as successful skating season ends
Work now starts to dismantle the ice rink, after the last sessions of the season was held yesterday.
The rink at Le Friquet Garden Centre is thought to have seen more skaters than previous years, which staff are hoping statistics will confirm in the coming days.
‘The community has really come together and gone for it. You don’t really get this type of activity other than at Christmas,’ said rink manager Matthew Gouveia.
‘It’s a very expensive product to run. Last year the electricity alone cost £36,000. Electricity prices have gone up this year but we’ve had some solar panels installed on the roof which may help a bit.’
He added that a buy-one-get-one-free offer in the Guernsey Press meant even typically quieter sessions on the rink welcomed more visitors. While rain did not affect the ice, strong winds did, often slicing a few millimetres of ice off of the top with a big gust, leaving a layer of water.
‘It helps us with the scraping and it can be quite fun to skate on unless you fall over,’ said Mr Gouveia.
‘The new technology and aluminium piping we have this year meant that we could handle an extra five degrees ambient temperature. There was only about three consecutive days that were slightly affected.’
This season, three large chillers operating at -10C were used to freeze the water by using a liquid called glycol. The glycol was cooled, freezing the surrounding water, and made a better chilling system than in previous years.
The take-down of the rink will begin on 15 January, with a whole team of specialists, including carpenters and plumbers, travelling from the UK to help with dismantling.
While the erection of the rink took about two weeks, the deconstruction is expected to take a week.
The system has a melt function, so the rink will take less time to melt, whereas previously it would have taken a couple of days.
Once the rink has melted the pipe work will be removed before the barriers are taken away.
Some pieces of the rink will go back to the UK, including the large gazebo with heating, whereas smaller pieces, such as skating aids and some of the lighting and sound systems, will stay at the garden centre.
