Ice by the English seaside

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Ice-World ice by the English seasideSteve Turner, entertainment programming manager for the BIC's (the Bournemouth International Centre) Pavilion venue, told Ice-World dealer Stage Electrics that the idea for this ice rink had come literally as a result of public demand. In the past Bournemouth had a full-time ice rink but that closed down. BIC wanted to provide the town with an all-weather facility - somewhere they could skate regardless of whether it was raining or not.
The short summer season run last year drew a total of around 20,000 skaters, while the winter season from early December until the end of February, covering the school half-term holidays, attracted some 60,000 people.
Impressive numbers!
Steve Turner: "We decided to take it on ourselves and to source our own suppliers. We've always allowed a full week for the get-in, but this season Ice-World dealer Stage Electrics completed it within three days, and that was without rushing. That in turn gave us the bonus of a couple of free days before we opened up on the first Saturday."
"Stage Electrics gave us a very competitive price and specified a very concise and fast get-in period. Because we're a very busy venue all year round, minimising the time for the get-in, the technical build and the get-out were also important to us."
The BIC Pavilion is an unusual and striking arena, an octagonal building with a high domed wooden roof, ringed by bars and cafés. The rink itself sits in the centre.
An additional touch was the inclusion of a sponsor's logo embedded in the ice.
Stage Electrics' John Burgess: "Once the installation is finished, monitoring of the ice temperature is typically done by the venue's own staff, as it is here in Bournemouth. We provide a 24 hour call-out system so that if anyone has any difficulties or any questions out of normal working hours they can phone a number and one of our engineers will get in touch with them to give whatever support is required. As we do a lot of work in the live entertainment field we're used to working while most of the country is asleep!"