Good things come in small packages and that was certainly the case for Thornton Heath’s first ice rink which was a resounding success.

Over the day hundreds of children and their parents donned skates and descended on the ice rink in the Garnett Road car park to enjoy the festive attraction.

The ice rink was funded by donations from the community who raised £2,100 towards bringing the winter event to Thornton Heath.

The ice rink was part of the CR7 Market organised by Thornton Heath Community Action Team as part of a three month pilot to roll out a market.

There were lots of positive comments about the ice rink which was provide by Hi5 events.

One of the  nicest things was hearing the skating rink staff comment on how “polite” local children were.

Here are a few comments from the day from satisfied customers:

  • “It was great and my children loved it.”
  • “It really was great fun to have this on the doorstep for the day.”
  • “Terrific fun for the community.” 
  • “My brother and his kid just loved it too. Heart warming stuff.”
  • “It was amazing and great for our community…”

The Santa’s Grotto at the Barber Store was also a massive hit with Mother Christmas and her elves doing a great job delivering early Christmas presents for Santa who arrived later to test out his sleigh!

One delighted mum said: “My 4-year-old had a lovely time ‘skating’ for the first time. It was also the first time she hasn’t cried when meeting Santa – thanks to the guys at the Barber shop!”

These photographs have been taken by talented local photographer Neil Tanner, Van Dang and Jamie Audsley.