First ever ice rink in Limavady set to open this week

Staff taking a break from the preparation of Santa's grotto. LCDI are working in partnership with Be Safe Be Well to host the week-long event.

Limavady Community Development Initiative (LCDI) are behind the week-long festive venture following a community consultation asking people what they’d like to see on the site of the former workhouse and Roe Valley Hospital.

The ice rink, along with a Santa’s grotto, Christmas market and a festive food section, will be located on LCDI’s grounds from December 2-9.

“We have blown away by the interest with the phones ringing off the hook. Everybody is so supportive and really looking to a local event of this calibre. The town is buzzing,” said Ashleen Schenning, LCDI’s Volunteer Centre Manager.

“The local school session in the mornings are almost sold out with the schools welcoming such a novelty way to start the Christmas season.”

Ms Schenning said planning is “going great”.

“Hard work and hectic but well worth it. The board, staff and volunteers are all working away in their own time to ensure the event will be a great success,” she told the ‘Journal’.

“The idea came from a community consultation which asked people what they would like to see the on the LCDI site which as everybody knows is steeped in history, having been the Limavady Workhouse before it became the local hospital.

“LCDI, as one of the area’s biggest community organisations, is keen to show leadership in promoting community inclusion in Limavady. An event such as this breaks down all the usual barriers because it is so accessible to everyone including local residents from the Neighbourhood Renewal area for whom travel costs can sometimes be prohibitive.”

LCDI hopes the icy attraction, measuring 12m x 12m, will attract footfall from outside the town.

That’ll make a nice change to have people coming here. Not everyone has the financial means of travelling to other places, so for those people who can’t afford that, it means we’re putting it on their doorstep,” she said Ms Schenning, who added: “There is room for 48 skaters during each session but even with this amount of spaces the sessions are filling up quickly.”

To book a space call LCDI on 028 777 65438 or emailing [email protected]